There's Always a Light In the Darkness
by The Talking Absol
Summary: Zim and co. go through a transformation that changes them...and perhaps the fate of their worlds...rated T for good-old gore and language. -FINALLY updated!-
1. Forgotten?

There's Always a Light In the Darkness

Or,_The Tale of the Logical_

By: The Talking Absol

This is a creepy tale. If you are easily disturbed, then don't read it. But if you're a true ZIM fan, then how are you easily creeped out? O.o Okay, it's alright if you don't know what a Logical is. It is explained later in the story, as happens most of the time. And I'm sorry if stuff doesn't make sense, but remember- this is fanFICTION. I'll try to make the characters as true to their original natures as possible, but they all go through a kind of transformation…8D There probably won't be any romance in this fic, except possibilities of ZAGR and DATR, but it's not what it seems…AND NO ZADR!! No matter how I write it, it isn't that. Look to my profile for details. You can take the story however you want to, but there is no yaoi or yuri here. Although, I might have some friendship elements at the end of this.

Invader Zim and all its related characters and titles belong to the wonderful Jhonen Vasquez.

Dire, as a character, belongs to me. He's so evil…haha.

And so begins…our tale.

Chapter One: Forgotten?

**Planet Irk, 155 Irken Years Ago**

A small, green alien stood in front of a crowd, its eyes glowering out before it. It was dressed in a white lab coat and black boots, a name tag on the front of his coat reading in messy writing: "Dire." On top of his bald head were two long antennae. The crowd in front of him consisted of aliens that looked exactly like him, but they wore red dress-like uniforms with black boots instead of the lab coat. On everyone's back, however, was a large backpack-like device called a Pak.

The crowd cheered, although Dire didn't look happy. The sound fell on deaf antennae. His cool, angry blue eyes glared out at the crowd.

Two extremely taller aliens floated up from behind him and a snarl crossed ones face, red eyes narrowing. The crowd quieted as a giant machine that looked like a brain, called the Control Brain, spoke.

"Scientist Dire, you have been found guilty of acts against the Irken Empire, including revealing secret plans to enemies and suspicious Logical acts. You are hereby considered a Defective and will therefore be terminated." The control Brain said with a hint of satisfaction.

Dire stayed silent. He thought back, abruptly, to the tiny smeet he had Tainted. He would never see its true destructive power. After reading Newton's Three Laws of Motion to it and basic Physics, he knew it would be truly powerful. It had been HIS smeet, his child, his experiment. It would reign when he was gone; a true Irken.

There was a sickening squelch and a hiss as one of the Tallest reached up and ripped off his pack. Dire saw his life clock appear. A thought crossed through his slowing mind.

Of course the smeet would be a Magical. He'd made sure the Taint was recessive. But the rest of the population would know, even if it was only through its individuality. But they didn't know who he'd Tainted yet. Only he knew that. It would grow just like the others, be randomly named just like everyone else, and receive training for the area it specialized in. Invader or Scientist. He personally hoped Scientist, of course. In there, it could excel most definitely.

Another slow thought occurred to Dire. A wild grin crossed his zipper-like teeth.

He thrust his head back and let out a hearty evil laugh, screaming before his mind shattered,

"By the Mighty Tallest before me and Logic itself- I curse this day until my revenge is satisfied! One of your own kind will turn against you and destroy you all! Go on, my smeet, my Logical, and live for me!"

As he fell to the floor in a foaming mess, the crowd cheered. But the Control Brain knew better. That smeet would be one in a million. It would be useless to try and find it or terminate them all. They'd just have to wait and see who it grew up to be...

**Roughly 155 Irken years later- Location: Planet Earth 4**

It was never a peaceful day on this planet. The people were too ignorant to notice anything, of course. Like when two aliens tried to take over their planet, or when the dead rose from graves. But it wasn't their fault. That's why there were people like Professor Membrane.

But today, it seemed...more unusual. But that could've been due to the fact that Zim wasn't paying attention to Physics for once. He had his feet up on the desk, staring at his toes and off into space. It seemed futile, in his mind, to attempt to calculate how long it would take something to hit the floor. It was due to gravity, of course.

Zim was, of course, an alien. But no one other than a choice few humans on this planet knew that. He had light neon green skin, purple eyes, and no ears or nose. He blamed this on a skin condition, which almost everyone took. He had a black, short-haired wig on that spiked back slightly, and only three fingers on his hands. He had on a long red uniform dress with thin black stripes and a pink collar and sleeve cuffs. Black gloves covered his hands and feet, reaching up to his knees where they covered black leggings.

He hadn't noticed, but thanks to the lower gravity on this planet, he'd grown taller- A lot taller. Six filthy Earth years had passed quickly. He hadn't noticed that he'd had the same homeroom teacher for six years, or that his classmates had also grown. This planet's ignorance had somewhat rubbed off on him.

But he never equated that.

Sitting a couple rows and seats back from Zim was the second-only human that knew he was an alien. Dib Membrane, so-called paranormal investigator, was also the second-only non-ignorant person on this planet. Dib had short black hair that had one part go up and back into a scythe above his somewhat abnormally large head. He had auburn eyes that hid behind huge glasses most of the time. He wore a long black trench coat that covered his blue shirt with a light blue neutral smiley face on it and black pants. His heavy-duty black boots were covered with leaves and mud from previous spying attempts.

He sat with his lips resting against intertwined fingers that sat up from his elbows resting against the desk. He was waiting, watching, for Zim to do something. But he would be disappointed today.

Just as their teacher, Mrs. Gimmard, was about to drop the computer on the floor, the bell rang. Zim hopped up quickly and snuck out of the classroom, Dib only a few people behind.

Zim walked slowly along to the door, lost in thought. The other kids shuffled loudly around him. Suddenly, he was rudely interrupted when someone shoved him forward.

"Watch where you're going!" a female voice snarled. Zim felt himself being stepped on, and he let out an "oof!" before scrambling back up to his feet.

"You should watch where you put your filthy feet, Gaz-human!" he snarled. The girl turned sharply and Zim stumbled back a bit, now afraid of her wrath.

The girl was only slightly shorter than him, with cropped purple hair and glaring hazel eyes. She had on a long black dress with a zipper going down the middle and a skull necklace around her neck. Long purple and white striped sleeves ran down along her arms and ended at the wrists. Under her shirt was another pair of purple and white leggings, and black Gothic boots rose up from her feet. In her hands was a dark red GameSlave 3, light flashing across the screen.

"You almost made me lose to the tenth dungeon boss on Vampire Piggies 4.5, which, as everyone knows, is the extra level with the cameo boss from Vampire Piggies 1! So if you value your life, you'll keep out of my way next time." Gaz said, eyes narrowing. With that, she turned sharply on her heel and walked off; head buried once more in her game.

Zim straightened and with a "hmph!" continued to walk on as if nothing had happened. The world outside High Skool was breezy but with a warm undertone, with trees once again turning green, signaling Spring was coming. The reptiles and animals were finally coming out of hibernation and scurrying around, chattering to each other in their own way. A squirrel came up to Gaz and put on its cutest eyes, hoping for food. She didn't look up as she stormed past it. Then the squirrel burst into flames and ran, screeching, around in circles until it jumped into a puddle and lay there, panting.

Zim walked briskly down the street, trying to avoid contact with the other humans. They were all too busy with their newspapers and food to notice or get in his way anyway, but he took precautions. Suddenly, he had the feeling he was being followed. He glanced nervously behind himself. Nothing was there except a swirling shadow. Wait- shadow?!

A growl crossed Zim's zipper-like teeth as he turned halfway around. "Dib-stink! Come out before I have to rip out your pitiful human organs again!" There was no answer. Zim tried again. "_Irken smeets _can hide better than you, you-" he was interrupted when a battle cry sounded from above his head. He glanced up, shocked, as Dib flew down from the building's roof. Zim was able to back up before Dib landed on him, and poor Dib landed clumsily on the street. Zim turned around again quickly and ran down the street, an exasperated look replacing his usual arrogant smirk. Dib got back up and followed him hurriedly.

They raced along the street, each pushing and shoving others to get their way. Zim was still in the lead when they rounded the corner and Zim's house came into view.

His strange angular house was a bright, eerie green, with a purple roof and several windows on the front. In the front lawn were a couple of lawn gnomes (who fired lasers at you if you didn't have ID) and an "I (heart) EARTH" sign. The front door was a Men's restroom door, and several huge cords stuck out from Zim's house and into his neighbors' houses.

Zim's face brightened and he sped up. But Dib put on one final burst and overtook Zim, screeching to a halt in front of him, blocking his path. Zim yelped and also stopped. The two faced each other as Dib pulled out his weapon with an evil smile.

"There's no where left for you to run, Zim!" Dib cried.

Zim grew a questioning look. "What about my house?" he asked, pointing behind Dib.

Dib turned, briefly, and then turned back, a thoughtful look on his face. "Oh yeah...I guess you could hide there...No! Wait! You're staying right here!" he snarled.

Zim put his hands on his hips and smirked. "Or what? You're gunna stop me with that 'oven mitt'?" making a reference to the object Dib was holding.

Dib went on the defensive. "It's not an oven mitt, you _lizard_! It's a genuine freezing talisman!"

Zim laughed, and Dib grew even angrier. "Oh yeah! Eat-" he was interrupted when a large, cute green dog flew right into his head.

"HI BIG HEAD BOY THAT MASTAH HATE!!" it screamed in a squeaky robotic voice. It was very small, with green fur and black legs, tail, and ears. Its eyes were huge and blue, giving off an air of cuteness you didn't realize you were falling for. A large silver zipper ran down its middle, and stitches were all over it, making it obvious the dog was in disguise from something else. A large pink tongue stuck out from its mouth, and its breath smelled of rotting tacos and candy.

Dib screamed horrifically, and began to shake his head, attempting to get the tiny dog off. But the cutey just reached up and grabbed onto Dib's scythe, swinging every which way, screeching with joy. Zim stood there, dumbfounded by this scene. Finally, Zim snapped out of it and ran past Dib and into his house.

Just as he got to the door, Zim turned around and called, "GIR! Quickly! Back inside!"

The dog, Gir, turned and looked at Zim. Then, he jumped off of Dib's head and ran on his hind legs into Zim's house. Dib shook himself one last time, and then turned and scowled at Zim.

"You may have gotten away this time, Zim! But...next..." Dib stopped when Zim laughed again at him very loudly and obnoxiously.

"Ohhhh...Right, Dib-stink! Next time don't underestimate Irken technology when you try some of that 'Para-spleen', GOT THAT?" Zim yelled, and then smiling and humming, went back into his house.

"It's para-NORMAL!" Dib cried. He grew slightly pouty. "Yeah...Next time..." he mumbled to himself. He then turned around and walked somewhat sadly and hurt back to his own house.

**Zim's House**

Zim glared out the window. "Pathetic stink hyuman!" he snarled. He whipped around to face Gir, who was now in the kitchen, making a bunch of noise and singing some obscene song. Zim's eyes went into a questioning gesture, but he simply shook his head and walked into the kitchen also.

"Gir! I'm going underground. Make sure no one comes in." he said, stepping into a large trash can.

Gir twirled around from where he was on the kitchen counter, and he let out a wild grin. "Suuuuuuuure mastah!" he said, and then went back to a huge slop of things on the table, screeching with joy every once in a wile. Zim just sighed as he sank into the trash can.

**The Membrane Household**

Gaz shuffled through the fridge as Dib walked in, a sight of sadness. She turned briefly away from her search for a soda.

"Another failure? Why do you even try anymore! None of his plans have EVER worked, no thanks to you sometimes, and he's so idiotic he probably couldn't even take over an ant hill!" Gaz snarled.

Dib looked up, insulted. "It's my duty to protect this planet from the paranormal because no one else will!" he said indignantly. "Even if it means trying and trying to stop moronic green aliens who are STUPID and bent on trying to take over the world with STUPID plans! Because one day...one day...They'll thank me!"

Gaz grumbled something about aliens drinking his brains instead of soda, but Dib didn't hear. With a fresh batch of confidence, he ran up to his room. Gaz, in finding a fresh can in the back of the fridge, grumbled again and walked back into the living room to her paused game.

**Planet Irk, Control Brain Room, Several Months Earlier**

The control Brain whirred as it passed through old files. It hated doing this, but it did need to get done. The current info on the infinite energy absorbing blob...Invader Tenn's news...Wait, what was this...?

It was an old Irken Memory Chip. It was still good, too- A scientist by the looks of it. The Brain stopped what it was doing for a moment and downloaded the info to a new chip. The new one, shiny and silver, popped out a small slit in the control panel, where a long robotic arm reached down and gently picked it up. The arm then rushed quickly away to the Pak chamber. The brain went quickly back to what it was doing. Old planets...Defectives...

The arm raced along a track until it reached the area where the Paks were made. Another arm was activated somewhere else and it went along to the Defective Dumping Area. It reached down and picked up a random dead body- an older soldier who'd started out with a virus. That arm rushed to meet the other one. The first arm worked effectively as it opened up a fresh Pak and put the memory Chip inside. There was a whir, click, and a happy hum as the Pak took in the downloaded personality. Suddenly, it shrieked and bolts of electricity flew out. The arm made a fist and hit the Pak several times until it quieted. The shell came up finally on the other arm and the first arm picked up the Pak and fit it onto the Irken's back, where two wires shot out and attached to the Defective's back. Then another cord shot out, attached to the Pak, and screamed with electricity.

The Irken's eyes shot open, revealing electric-blue orbs. His skin again turned neon green. The cable detached, and he fell to the floor, gasping for air. He breathed heavily, and steadily got up to his feet. The arm then spoke, using the information it had gathered from the control Brain.

"Scientist Dire, you have been brought back because you have been found to be perfectly fine. Welcome back." with that, the two arms shot off.

Dire looked up hesitantly. "I...I'm alive?" he asked. He looked down at himself and gasped. He had on an Invader's outfit. This wasn't his body, either! They had used a Defective to bring him back...typical. He glanced around as a group of Gaurds shuffled in. they seemed to pause in amazement, then a purple-dressed one with green eyes came forward and addressed him.

"Scientist Dire?" he asked. Dire looked at him nervously.

"I'm no longer...what happened? Why was I brought back?" he asked wearily. The Guard stood up slightly straighter.

"You were found on the Control Brain's memory files, and there was nothing wrong with you, so it brought you back. Is there nothing wrong with you?" he asked, cocking an eye.

Dire considered this for a moment. "No." he said. It wasn't really lying...But it wasn't the whole truth either. He figured that if they didn't remember him, then he could just play safe for now. The Guard nodded, and then turned and motioned for Dire to follow his group. Dire didn't hesitate.


	2. HiSkool Never Ends

Um…okay, another chapter! Finally, I might add. My life had been unbelievably busy, so you should be grateful I managed to scrape another one of these out of my brain! FEEL HONORED! (is hit by a flurry of rotten tomatoes)

A little bit more Dire and Zim stuff, so be ready. Yay! Thank you SOOOOOO much for the reviews! I greatly appreciate them, and they were so wonderful…(cries)

AND NO DIB IS NOT NAKED IN THIS CHAPTER! Yeah, that got your attention, didn't it? Bloody pervs…But there's a scene in the beginning when he gets out of bed and it says "put normal clothes on". He's wearing his jim-jams when Gaz is in there. That'd be just weird...

Just to clear something up, -as I explained to some of you earlier- I didn't say Zim's eyes were red in the previous chapter because he was in school and therefore wearing his contacts. Sorry if it was confusing; it's explained in this chapter. Also! I will try and name the chapters after songs from now on, because I feel like it.

And Minimoose will most likely not appear in this fic. I'm sorry, I didn't plan to put him in from the beginning, and when I remembered him and tried to, he just doesn't fit. Poor Minimoose is a Magical, and he'd probably die when they tried to convert him. So think of it like this- I'm saving him from a horrible fan-ficcy fate! XD (is shot)

Invader Zim and its related themes and characters and such belong to Nick and the wonderful Jhonen Vaquez. The chapter name is a song by Bowling for Soup, only changed a bit. Dire belongs to me, obviously. So you can't have him! –It would be nice if someone drew a lovely little picture of him for me though…(gives huge, cute, puppy-eyes and grin)-

Readers: …NO.

Well, if you're interested, a friend drew the Logical Cast of IZ for me and I colored them:

the-talking-absol. Say hi and it'll really make my day! (grins)

There's Always a Light in the Darkness

or,_ The Tale of the Logical_

By: The Talking Absol

Chapter Two: Hi-School Never Ends

_A tiny Dib toddled along, a baby Gaz crawling behind him with a skull-shaped binkie in her mouth. He struggled to get to the kitchen, where an eerie glow filled the room._

_"Mommy?" he asked. He continued towards the kitchen, and almost tripped on the edge of the tile. He caught himself on the doorway and looked up into the light, one eincie hand covering his eyes. "Mommy?" he asked again, more desperately._

_"Shuuu...I'm here sweetie...I'm always here..." Something turned to him from the light. Something with glowing green eyes and a sharp-toothed grin..._

_Dib screamed._

_No...not again...Mother..._

_She grinned at him. "Dib sweetie...Come to mommy..."_

_Flash. A firey comet-like shape crashing down on Earth. Inside it was another Irken, but with neon blue eyes._

_"Don't you love me...? He he he..."_

_Flash. Zim screaming in pain as his own Pak reaches up from his back and attacks him, screeching something in a strange language…_

_"Come to mommy...She wants to give you a hug..."_

_Flash. Gaz getting kidnapped by a tall figure with slitted, evil red eyes and a large shark-like grin._

_"Dib..."_

_"Dib..._DIB!"

Dib was abruptly thrown off of his bed when Gaz tore off his sheets. He screamed, trying to fight off some kind of attacker, but paused when Gaz started to walk out of his room.

"Ga...Gaz! Oh my God, you will not believe the nightmare I had last night...I think I even saw into the future!" he said with an excited tone.

"I'm going to make your life a nightmare if you make me late for school. Now get ready before I stuff your sheets down your throat." Gaz snarled, dropping the sheets on the floor in disgust, as they were covered with her brother's cooties.

"But Gaz!" he started, and got out of bed, hurriedly throwing normal clothes on as Gaz walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. "It...it was...There was a comet of some kind, I think it was another Irken! But he had really bright blue eyes, and Zim! His own backpack was attacking him for some reason, maybe that alien is coming to stop him! But why would one of his own kind do that? MAYBE ZIM'S AN OUTLAW!" Dib screamed with a satisfactory tone.

"Right...And this was a dream?" She asked as he came down to the kitchen with a fresh step.

"I know, but it felt like more! It felt...real. Like, really real." Dib protested.

"Uh-huh. Eat your toast." Gaz said, pointing to a pile of toast on the table, provided by something unseen.

"But Gaz...You were in it too! You were getting kidnapped by-" he suddenly let out a squeak when Gaz stuffed about three slices of toast into his mouth.

"Grr...I don't care! If I'm late for school, I'll have an imperfect record and Dad won't let me get the new GameSlave 4 when it comes out at Christmas! Now shut up and eat your toast." she hissed, the dark aura around her growing.

Dib nodded worriedly.

**Elsewhere**

Zim looked around his house. Everything was in good shape; no scratches (except the one in the high right corner where he had shot at Dib), no stains- perfectly spotless.

Smiling with a confident gleam in his eyes, Zim turned and marched to the door, ready for another day of Hi-Skool. Suddenly, a giant pile of goo flew at him and hit him dead-on in the face. He screeched, and did a drop and roll move, trying to wipe the goo off. Finally successful, he glared across the room at the TV.

There was a stifled mad giggle, and two glowing blue eyes poked out from behind the TV. They quickly retracted when they saw Zim's glare, but giggled lightly again. Zim narrowed his eyes. If he'd had eyebrows, they would've been very furrowed.

"Gir! Don't mess up the base! Got that? GIR!" Zim yelled.

Gir quietly came out, now out of disguise. He was now an obvious little robot, with shiny grey steel covering his body and two little cone-shaped orbs sticking out of his head for eyes. His arms were thin and like wires, bending wherever they pleased. His feet were single shapes, also cones, coming out from under him. On his chest was a little blue door opening to his inner workings, and on top of his rounded rectangular head was a little antennae.

"I want tacos!" he cried.

"You can get tacos later! Guard the base whilst I'm away." Zim said, turning to leave and brushing the last remnants of the goo off.

"Okie-dokie!" Gir cried, but as soon as Zim left, he jumped onto the couch and turned on the TV, screaming about angry monkeys.

**Hi-Skool, 7: 35 AM**

Zim marched uniformly up to the skool. Staring around, he noted that most of the kids were insistently chatting amongst themselves or standing around, trying to look "cool," whatever that meant. Zim held his head up high and turned onto the final stretch to skool, a precise five minutes before skool began.

His wig perked, as something under it appeared to move, at a familiar voice. He didn't turn all the way around, but he did glance over briefly just to be sure of who it was. These human boys all sounded the same at this point in their lives, honestly. He hadn't bothered to find out why yet, but research on this subject was on his list of things to do.

Sure enough, Dib was leaning up against a tree, trying to make a conversation with the hand-held-device-induced Gaz. "Look at him, Gaz. All confident. Today...something's going to change. I can feel it! Maybe it has something to do with that dream I had. Yeah! Maybe...Zim..." he stopped when Gaz gave him a glare and turned another way.

Dib narrowed his eyes at Zim as the alien continued marching up to the skool doors. A roar of laughter erupted from a crowd nearby and spread through the play ground as Zim tripped over the steps (again) and fell flat on his face. Dib's mind whirred, trying to remember every detail of the tall figure that had kidnapped Gaz. Why did it look so familiar...? But those eyes...Dib remembered the eyes clearly. They reminded him of something else...something evil from his past...

As the skool bell rang, he sighed and stood up straight, collecting his backpack and following Gaz into the skool. He just wished he knew when the other Irken was coming. Maybe then, he could find out more about Zim's race...

The only other Irken that he knew of that had landed here was Tak, and she had also wanted to take over the Earth but also eradicate Zim from any existence. She had pretended to be Dib's friend for a short period of time, but it had only been to gather information on Zim. She had been one of his only "friends" that Dib could ever recall of, but that didn't matter to him right now. Everyone would want to be his friend when he captured and exposed Zim.

Wrapped up in those thoughts, he didn't notice as he walked into the wrong classroom...again.

**Planet Irk, Testing Room, Several months earlier**

"Scientist Dire, you will be tested for current knowledge of planet Irk and its inhabited planets. Based on this knowledge, we will place when you were created and how much information you should be taught. Begin your test now." One of the Guards stated.

Dire glanced immediately down at his test. First question was easy.

1. What was the first planet Irk conquered? Aeroquerk, planet of frogs.

Second question was easy, too.

2. Who were the first Tallest? Tallest Shea and Tallest Gripe.

Third question was easy.

3. Who were the Tallest during your age of operation? Tallest Noops and Tallest Krof.

Fourth was easy.

4. How did Irk conquer the Vortians? We befriended them and then took them by surprise when they warred with the Hooblesplots.

However, the fifth question and beyond he had no idea about.

5. Who are the current Tallest? "Tallest...um..." he mumbled, scratching in between his antennae with his pen. Tallest Pur...ed and Tallest Rup.

6. Who killed Tallest Miyuki and Tallest Spork? Vortian prisoner number 777?

7. Who ruined Operation Impending Doom One? This one he left blank.

However, the eighth one was surprisingly easy.

8. What was the first planet Irk truly befriended and worked together with to conquer the other worlds? Earth.

The ninth one, again, had him dumbfounded.

9. Who is the worst Invader ever?

Finished, he sat back with a nervous smile as a hand floated down and grabbed his pen and writing pad. He waited patiently while they checked his answers.

Dire glanced up as they called his name. "Dire, you incorrectly answered six out of nine questions. You will be filled with current information immediately."

"Six?! But I know answered five correctly! Which ones did I get incorrect?" He cried, standing up.

"There were no Tallest Noops or Krof. The current Tallest are Tallest Red and Tallest Purple. The first planet we befriended was Vort. The Invader who killed Tallest Miyuki and Tallest Spork, who ruined Operation Impending Doom Two, and who is the worst Invader in history is Invader Zim!"

**…:Planet Earth, Several months Later:…**

Zim stared out the window of his classroom, bored out of his mind. Homeroom was the most pointless class of the day, being only five minutes long and with the most horrific teacher in the entire world.

Ms. Bitters was an old woman; as to how old, no one knew. Her shiny gray hair was tied back into a bun, with wrinkles covering much of her face but not her cold eyes, hidden behind glasses. She always either wore a long black or purple dress with tall, bolted boots. She loved the words "doom" and "horrible", and preferred to talk about the end of the world over the school's lunch. She also taught World History.

"Today's horrible lunch will be their horrible mayonnaise served with doomed fish…" she rambled, wrinkles furrowing with every word.

It was kinda creepy that she'd been at least one of his teachers the past five human years. That was about eighty in Irken. He had noticed the humans aged slower than Irkens, or rather, their planet rotated a lot slower around their sun than Irk's. No wonder he hadn't felt any older…

Zim grumbled something under his breath and turned back to face Ms. Bitters. Just anther day at school, he supposed. Another day stuck with the Dib-creature in almost every class. This was Dib's doing, by the way. He knew Dib had made sure to try and get into every class the Zim was in for Dib to keep an eye on the extra-terrestrial. However, he had thrown Dib a curveball when he signed up for Art and Dib signed up for Forensics.

Art was so stupid! _Styupid_ humans and their stupid…stupidness! But it did give him a chance to "express" himself, with wonderful pictures like "Dib getting sawed in half", "Dib getting beat up", and his personal favorite: "Dib meets his BIG HEADED DOOMY FATE". The latter had been featured in the office for a little while, surprisingly…

His wig perked again as the bell rang, signaling first period. He loathed his schedule; almost all of it was with the Dib. As some of the other kids who had different first periods filed out, glancing back nervously as if to make sure Ms. Bitters wasn't following them, she growled and turned to the rest of her victims.

"Alright class, turn to page 596 in your _horrible_ textbooks…" she said, and there was a groan and a series of loud slamming and whirring noises as they opened their books. "Today, we're going to learn about the _horrible_ effects of the Briscut Tea Massacre, which was started by the _horrible _taxes that the _doomed_ Brans put upon our country…"

And so she droned on throughout the rest of the class, and the occasional student that fell asleep met their awful fate in the "Underground classrooms". When the bell rang signaling the next period, the students all gathered their things and stampeded out the door, eager to get away from the evil teacher.

Zim shuffled to his next class, his mind blurred with thoughts of humans dressing up like Turkey-men and Dib making faces at him any time he turned to glare at the human.

Why did he push himself through this horrible ordeal? The almighty ZIM should have the humans bowing and cowering at his feet by now, obeying his every order! How they had not recognized his BRILLIANCE by now, he would not know for while.

Oh well. He only had five more classes to go before he could go back to his base and continue work on his latest plan, given that Gir hadn't destroyed it yet or the Dib didn't interrupt his plans.

Dib…or…

_Dire?_

Zim was vaguely aware of the fact that he was falling, his knees buckling beneath him. His arms didn't even try to support his frame, as every part of him was frozen in shock. Where had that name come from? And why was it sending chills through his squeedly-spooch?

His eyes went wide as his face met the floor with a satisfying "Cruchsh". He lay there, unconscious, as the kids around him stared and walked a little faster past him.

Dib had seen his enemy fall, and considered what to do very briefly. On the one hand, he could quickly take the alien and expose him. On the other, he could wait and interrogate Zim to find out what Zim's weakness was that made him suddenly faint dead upon the floor. On either hand, he'd be late for class. Quickly choosing the first choice, he attempted to make his way through the crowd over to Zim's side. Unfortunately, by the time he made it halfway there, Zim had gotten up, apparently over his little spell, and ran to his next class.

Dib paused, and then shoved his way through and onto the same class as Zim, thought buzzing through his mind like a swarm of bees.

**Lunch**

Voices rang throughout the giant lunch hall, spurred on by rumors and chit-chat about the day. None of it was about the food, unless you were complaining about it or you were Willie.

Ever since the school had become more crowded, Zim had been force against all his might and will to no longer sit all alone at his own table, but instead alone with the Dib and his little sister.

The Dib would not stop pestering him today especially, mostly about what had made Zim faint earlier. Gaz played away at her game, only occasionally taking a quick bite or sip of her homemade lunch before turning back to her game. Zim ignored the Dib-human, mostly because he wasn't sure himself what made him faint, but also because he knew the boy was prodding his defenses for weaknesses.

"C'mon Zim, tell me- what did you hear or see? Or was it something else? A memory? C'mon!" Dib inquired.

Zim glared up at his enemy with pure hatred practically burning through his purple contacts. Dib only grinned further.

"I keep telling you, _Dib-stink_, I do not remember. And anyway, if you were to find out why the almighty Zim had a brief moment of…relaxation, then you would use it against me. So I would not tell you even if I DID remember!" Zim growled.

Dib's eyes narrowed through his glasses. "Yeah, I know. But it doesn't mean that I'll stop trying! I'll just pester you until you do tell me, because I know that you're just trying to hide your weaknesses…"

Zim's eyes went wide, and he dug his three-clawed hand into the table. "ZIM has ho weaknesses! Delusional _hyuman_, give up on those silly thoughts and apologize for even considering it! I should destroy you right not were it not for the fact we were in school right now!" Zim said, voice rising in protest.

"What, not afraid of being caught, are we?" Dib said, trying to gain an edge on Zim's argument.

Zim shot up as Dib reacted and they were reaching for each other's throats when Gaz stepped in, only saying, "If you two even think about starting that shit again, I send you both into a pit of darkness so miserable that you'll chew your own toes off."

They paused, and slowly turned to stare at her. "Chew…our toes off? That sounds like something an awful author would write for someone else's character to say!" Dib cried.

"Or I might just saw off your toes." Gaz said calmly.

Zim gulped. "All of them?" he whimpered. Gaz nodded, and the two boys went back into their seats and said not another word to each other or Gaz throughout the rest of lunch.

After school, Zim raced home in order to try and find the glitch that had happened earlier. He opened his door to find Gir in the kitchen again, making waffles for dinner. Zim had figured out a long time ago that he was allergic to most earth foods, especially meat and water, but not waffles. He had to figure this out.

"Gir! Make sure no one enters the base while I'm down in my lab! Understood?" Zim cried, passing the robot without even glancing at him.

"AHM MAKIN' WAFFLES!!" Gir screeched, and then turned his full attention back to the waffles.

Zim, on the other hand, jumped into the toilet in his kitchen (which was actually an elevator to his underground base) and flushed himself down.

When he got down, he hurried past the surmassive wires and technical computers and all of the wonderful technology that came with being an Irken Invader. Ignoring these (as he did not need them right now), he threw off his wig, revealing his spiky black antennae, and took out his purple contacts, allowing his ruby red, glossy, bug-like eyes to adjust in the light.

He jumped into the chair facing the main computer and took a wire hanging down from the ceiling, immediately plugging it into his Pak. He winced as there was sucking noise and it connected, alerting him he was on the system with a screen on the computer and a light "beep!"

"Computer! Search for glitches! Anything unusual? Something the Dib-human planted, perhaps?" Zim commanded, and while the computer hummed and searched his Pak, he considered this. No, maybe not the Dib. He had been successful in putting spybugs into his systems in the past, but he certainly couldn't have the technology to hack into an Irken's Pak…

"No errors found, other than the usual ones…" the computer said boredly.

"Hmph. At exactly 10:25 AM human time, maybe?" Zim asked, and the computer whirred again. Of course he had "usual errors", not something the computer could get rid of (as it did not know what they were; it claimed they were embedded into his very DNA) but they hadn't bothered him, and probably never would.

"Nothing detected. Continue working the latest evil plan?" the computer groaned.

Zim thought this over briefly. "Yes. I need to concentrate." He mumbled, and disconnected the wire from his Pak, letting it hang next to him while he considered how he was going to get rabid bunnies.

END CHAPTER TWO

Well, there we go! Some of the history facts were changed because they're on a different planet than our Earth, even though they claim the same events happened. Nothing against either group, of course! (sweatdrop)

Tell me what you think, as I greatly appreciate reviews and they make me a better author! They also encourage me to write faster! I'll see ya guys and gals next time!


	3. Just Another Day

Okay, this chapter is Dire-centric. We finally find out who his Tainted is, and there's a bit more about the War of Logic and Magic and its after-effects. Don't fret, all questions about Logic and magic will eventually be answered. So please be patient! 

Dire, the Spiraling Dragon idea, the Logic and Magic theory, Reed, and Skew belong to me. The IEAB, Zim, and all of the Irken society and its related planets and such do not; they belong to the wonderful Jhonen Vasquez and Nick. Anyone can use Xenaplo, though. I don't care. XD The Deep Magic doesn't belong to anyone except itself, and the Chapter name belongs to Oingo Boingo (or, Danny Elfman).

There's Always a Light in the Darkness

Or, _The Tale of the Logical_

By: The Talking Absol

Chapter Three: Just Another Day

Dire walked the lonely halls of Irk's Science and Stuff department, a deeply creased frown upon his face and two Guards leading him on either side. He was confused; how could there be a "worst Irken Invader"? He knew they were egotistical, so how could they consider one of their own to be so horrible? Was he evil, manipulative, or just plain stupid? Not only that, but how could he have killed TWO Tallest in his time? Even the great Xenaplo, conqueror of Bleck (now apparently known as Blorch; its residents had been turned into mutant rats and had overrun the place) had not even been able to take down ONE Tallest.

And what was Impending Doom? Another attempt to conquer the planets? Irkens had learned their lesson about that with the Logical attack! So why…no, the question was- how long had he been asleep, or rather, dead?

His thoughts had turned Logical again. Ha! He knew Magic could not hold his form for long. A light smile tugged at his lips. Perhaps he could convert everyone here; it was apparent the Control Brain had wiped everybody's memories and then wiped its own after "defeating" Dire. Or maybe something else had done that- it made sense, if they didn't remember their only ally, Earth 4.

He noticed a stirring in his chest, like something slithering across his heart. Then something spoke to him in his thoughts, in a clear and commanding tone.

'Dire? Logical Scientist of the Irken Armada?'

Dire's antennae perked, and then flattened against his smooth head.

'What?' his thoughts shot back.

'I am the Spiraling Dragon, the Logical barrier, or, to you common Cartoons and Logicals, the Deep Magic. You, Dire, are only surviving member of the Irken race after the Great Erasure. We, as in Fate and the One Above it, decided to protect Magicals from your kind by ensuing you with us and making sure you do not harm Magic's students…A treaty had been made between Logic and Magic whilst you were asleep. To be put in basic terms, you can no longer kill Magicals by trying to convert them or tell them your 'truth', nor can they harm you.'

Dire's eyes narrowed. 'Hmph…I see. You're afraid I'm going to do more harm to those _pathetic_ beings? No; I just want to find my student.' 

'Do not even try- Magic has covered up his Logical abilities. Although they still do come through occasionally, this world does not understand what he is doing and shuns him.'

Dire's thoughts raced, and he struggle to come up with a question to trick this "Deep Magic". He knew what it was, of course- it was one of the few things on these planets that was immune to Logic. It was a step above Magic and Logic; the very thing that held the Cartoon Worlds together. But why would it be in Logicals? Why didn't Magic just try and convert them back? But wait-! Of course- Logic killed Magic. The instant Magic tried to re-invade a Logical's body, it would die. He had forgotten, of course, but everything was coming back slowly and it took time to remember his Logical abilities.

'But, because they're still in his DNA, he is still a Logical by heart, correct?' Dire tried.

Luckily for him, the Deep Magic of planet Irk was almost like its residents- kinda stupid. For a moment, it lost its tone and sounding more like a child than a powerful force to be reckoned with.

It answered, 'Um…I guess. But don't try to convert him! Magic would get upset and that would be baaaaaaaaaad…'

They arrived at the wing for Science and Dire asked one more question before the Guards and the Deep Magic left him.

'Where is my…I mean, the mixed Irken?' Dire asked quietly.

'On a lost planet, somewhere your kind has forgotten about…' the Deep Magic whispered, and began to disappear.

'Wait, where? Do you mean he's lost? And his own kind doesn't know?!' Dire's thoughts screamed.

It chuckled. 'No…he is not lost physically; only mentally. And his kind knows perfectly well where he is.' With that, he lost communication with it. 

Dire paused, unsure of what to say or do, in the doorway of the Science and Stuff Department. The other scientists were staring at him, as he had been standing there for a good two minutes, just staring off into space.

His antennae perked on top of his head, and his thoughts began to calm down from the recent processing. He needed to find his Tainted; but first, he needed to ask around and find out who it was.

He shook himself and walked in, and the other scientists went back to their work, poking and probing things and writing things down. Dire could almost feel himself smiling again. This place brought back many memories, some of which he had almost forgotten. 

He almost ran into a smaller Irken, and they backed off from each other before getting a good look at each other.

The other Irken was only about four feet tall, almost a foot shorter than Dire. He had deep purple eyes and a little labcoat on, just like the other Irkens. Underneath the coat was a pair of black leggings and boots, pointed cruelly into sharp ends. On his hands were black rubber gloves, and in his hands was a clipboard with several pieces of paper and a pen. 

He stared coolly up at Dire and grumbled, "You're the newbie?" 

Dire could feel a resentment growing for this Magical already. "Yes." He grudgingly stated.

He turned on his heel, mumbling something about "sending them the stupid ones", and lead Dire over to an equipping room, where he pointed to the labcoats and goggles hanging from hooks.

As Dire tried to find one that actually fit him, the other Irken mumbled, "You'll be trying to find a cure for the Infinitely Energy Absorbing Blob, mm-hm, and good luck with that, Scientist Dire. And if you need me, I'm Scientist Skew." With that, he left.

Dire buttoned up his coat and thought of multiple things he could've said that would've sent the Irken into a world of pain. That was the great part with Logic- just say a sentence or two about Newtons' laws of Gravity and the Magicals would be rolling on the floor, their skin and brains exploding.

However, he felt the Deep Magic stirring again, so he kept quiet until it went away. He found his station with little difficulty, as it appeared to be growing by the second into a horrible monster that the other scientists were avoiding with much difficulty. 

He calmly walked over, expecting to recite a few lines by Einstein to the creature, when the Deep Magic rushed through him and stopped him.

'No! You know the rules- you cannot kill Magicals!' it hissed.

'Oh, right; so what do I do now that it's about to kill me?' Dire snarled sarcastically as the blob grew eyes and a mouth, and began to glare at Dire.

'Leave that to me. Hold out your hands at it.' It purred, and Dire obeyed, realizing he was defenseless with the new rules.

Just as the blob reached down to snap him up, something bright blue pulsed across his body very quickly, reaching towards his hands. There was a flash, and a wave of energy sprayed out from his hands and hit the blob. It screeched in pain, and sythes of blue energy began to entrap it and circle it, shrinking it back down to a small cell. There, a circle bubbled over it and then disappeared.

Dire stared dumbfoundly at the spot where the blob had just been. The other scientists calmed down and then rushed over to his spot. 

"How did you do that? It's the Infinitely Energy Absorbing Blob…thing!" one red-eyed scientist asked.

"The WHAT?" Dire asked, putting his hands back down and staring at the guy. 

Sudeenly, he and the other scientists backed off and gasped at Dire. Antoher Irken with red eyes gasped.

"Du-dude! You should get those eyes checked out at the Health department! They aren't right…"

Dire's hands flew to his face and tenderly felt around his eyes. There was nothing wrong he could feel about them, but the other Irkens were staring at him as if he were some kind of freak.

"Um, I'll lead you there since you're new!" a purple-eyed scientist said, raising a hand. He was, if it were possible, even shorter than the rest of them, coming only up to Dire's stomach. 

He took Dire by his sleeve and led him out of the room and down the hallway he had come from. Dire finally forced his sleeve out of the Irken's grasp and followed him quietly.

"What happened back there? What'd you do to stop that thing? We've been trying to solve that problem for years, but you were able to cantin it in only a few seconds! How'd you do that? Oh, I'm Reed, by the way." Reed exclaimed.

Dire shook his head, saying, "I don't know. It threatened me, so I faght back in whatever way I could. Isn't that what we're still raisd to do?" he asked.

"Well, yeah, but most of the time we panic and run for it." Reed admitted. "It was unfair of Skew to assign you to that project, but it's apparent you can handle it." 

"Where did that thing come from, anyway? It seems like it was either created by a genius or a moron…" Dire asked, staring around fro clues to his Tainted. Surely he must be mentioned somewhere…?

Reed began to laugh, and paused to catch his breath. Dire stopped and stared strangely at him. 

"Wow…you hit it right on the spot! Zim was a moron and a danger to society! I'm so glad the Tallest banned him from Irk!" Reed said, and wiped tear from his eye.

Dire's antennae perked again. Zim…again, that name! Who was this guy?

"Zim? He was after my time…Tell me about him." Dire commanded, and they continued to stroll towards the Health wing. 

"Well, there is no way to describe Zim other than 'moron'. He loved being an Invader, but he was so eager to destroy things he destroyed our own planet nearly three or four times! They sent him to our wing to try and make his destructive habits into something useful, but he only ended up creating the Infinitely Energy Absorbing Blob and it ate both of our Tallest! Finally, during Impending Doom Two, they sent him to some unknown planet we'd spotted a while ago, hoping he'd leave and never come back. And he did! He fell for it, the stupid twit…Hey, are you alright?" reed asked, looking up at Dire, who had stopped dead in his tracks.

_Destroyed the planet…Destructive habits…Scientist…_

"_On a lost planet, somewhere your kind has forgotten about…No, he is not lost physically; only mentally. And his kind knows perfectly well where he is…"_

It all fit now! Dire's eyes had widened upon the realization of who Zim was. He snapped out of his trance and, in a frenzy now, picked up Reed by the collar and held him up to his face. 

"Where's the docks?" Dire cried.

Reed panicked and pointed in the direction they had come from. "Beyond the Science wing!" he cried.

Dire dropped him like a sack of potatoes and ran off in the direction Reed had pointed. Reed simply picked himself up and stared after him. 

Dire flew through the doors of the Science wing, startling several Irkens but shoving his way through and continueing on. Just as he was halfway across the hallway, a voice behind him yelled, "Stop, Dire!"

Dire screeched to halt, and turned his head slightly to glare dangerously at Skew. 

"You can't leave! If you do, you're on the black list along with the infantile Zim!" Skew cried, pointing at Dire. 

Dire whipped around, spider legs emitting from his Pak as he cornered Skew, who had realized his mistake immediately.

Skew fell back onto his rear, eyes fearful at Dire's sight. Dire advanced slowly, all his Logical triumph and pride coming back at the sight of the cowering Magical. 

"You stupid magicals…" he hissed, and pinned Skew down with the metallic legs, which had begun to pulse an eerie blue. 

"You tell the Tallest that the Zim you all knew will no longer be a problem to your society." Dire hissed, letting his legs sink him down to get up into Skew's face. Dire's eyes narrowed to slits again.

"It's the new Zim that you'll have to worry about." Dire grinned, flashing his sharp teeth. The lights in the room flashed, and Dire whipped back up and around, retracting his legs and running out of the room and into the Ship Area.

Skew slowly got up and rubbed his throat unselfconsciously. For a minute there, he was afraid Dire was going to bite his neck and suck his precious blood out…

Dire raced along, searching for a ship that would last him the long trip to Earth. He had memorized the trip long ago, and now it came back to him, fresh as ever. Finding a small one labeled "Greased Lightning", he hoped in and took off, surprising the owner and causing multiple curses in their language.

As Dire shot off, he put his thoughts together. So…It was evident Zim was…

'I was hoping it would take longer for you to find out.' The Deep Magic mumbled.

'You underestimated a Logical.' Dire thought with an evil smile. The Deep Magic sighed.

'I'm coming, my Tainted…' Dire thought, eyes narrowing.

'My smeet…

My Zim…'

END CHAPTER THREE

Oh no! Zim is Dire's Tainted?! Who could've guessed? -sweatdrop- Well, tell me what you think! Next chapter the action will heat up when Dire lands on Earth…

Hold on, kiddies…We're in for a bumpy ride. 8D


	4. Moonshine

There's Always a Light in the Darkness

_Or, the Tale of the Logical_

By: The Talking Absol

Chapter Four: Moonshine

It was a blustery day, with gales of wind blowing through the streets up to forty miles per hour. The people hurried to their destination, some losing papers and having to scuttle after them. The wind howled and shrieked, taking things down its path like trash cans and anything that wasn't' bolted down, including people.

Zim hated Earth weather; on Irk, they could control such disasters, but here the humans had no control of their own planet. Pathetic! It just showed how inferior they were to the mighty Irken race. Why, when his Tallest came to this planet to conquer it, the humans would have no choice but to surrender! thoughts buzzed his head like the humans stupid ways of trying to defend themselves, like in those old movies Gir watched. the thought tickled him to the bone, and he chuckled lightly.

Today seemed...different. Something was wrong with the universe, Zim could tell; his Squeedly-Spooch was clenching into knots and his antennae kept rising as if expecting to hear something unexpected. he'd had to practically tape his wig down in order to make it stay still as best as possible. he hated this world. There was always something going on; it kept him on his toes but it usually turned out to be something small and annoying.

Like yesterday. A small chill went down his spine, and he blamed it on the cold wind and moved faster towards the school. what had that fainting spell been about? What had he thought? He couldn't remember, no matter what, and the Dib continued to pester him with questions. He wouldn't have to deal with the Dib anymore soon, as the "Summer Break" was approaching fast. It was already April, for Irk's sake! That meant they only had...two more months of school before the little worms were set free for two months. Then, Zim could truly hole himself up in his base and keep away from humanity and especially the Dib.

As he stepped onto school grounds, he couldn't help but wonder if the feeling today and the thing from the other day were linked in some way or another. But they couldn't be; there was nothing wrong with the mighty Invader Zim!

He began his formal Irken march into the school, the pride of his race filling him like the bell noise in his antennae.

Dib could also feel that something was wrong with the day. The happy people he usually passed on the way to school had looked scared and nervous, as human instinct was more powerful than people realized. His sister kept silent on their walk too, though it may have been she was too involved in her game. He attempted to avoid conversation with his sister at the moment, instead trying to observe anything wrong in their environment, though he did catch a glare from her at one point.

He caught Zim doing that strange march from his race into the school. It amused Dib to see Zim doing that, as if he had truly been totally brainwashed in his army. Dib couldn't find out much about the Irken military, other than it was considered the most powerful in the entire universe, and the ship leading assaults and military movements was the Armada, where the Tallest, the Irken leaders, stayed. He had no idea of the technology they possessed (other than it was far beyond normal human capability) or military ranking or anything. He knew it would become vital if they did come to Earth and attack, but for now, learning at the slow pace was good. Having patience compared to an impatient enemy was always an advantage.

A tingling feeling arose on the back of his neck, where he could feel the hairs rising and goosebumps crawling on his skin. It was almost like he was being watched...but upon inspection, he neither saw nor heard anyone. Rubbing his hands against his arms, he jogged inside the school behind Gaz.

**Several Days Earlier**

Dire knew the path the instant he came around Saturn. He'd traveled this path many times; but by the feel of space on the ship it hadn't been traveled in years. He carefully steered out of Saturn's' rings and gravitational field and moved on.

The Deep magic had done nothing to stop him, as if it could feel his determination overwhelming anything else. He was very focused on the idea of his revenge on the Irken race, and his Tainted would be the main piece. If, perhaps, he could Taint others temporarily, then they could be used too.

Speaking of that...

Dire turned his thoughts back to communicate with the Deep magic. 'So...' he started casually, 'What happened while I was asleep?'

The Deep Magic was silent, as if recollecting its thoughts, and then started on its tale.

'A little while after you were executed, the war got really nasty. Finally, Fate sent down its creature to settle the fighting. It led the Logicals back to their home planet and tried to re-group the Magicals. a lot of lives had been lost...mostly Magicals. In order to try and repair this, Fate and Fate's creature did a Great Erasure on all of the remaining Magicals and Logicals. But magic and Logic didn't forget. Magic demanded that there be a price for Logic, and Fate had no choice but to consent. It made the Logicals nasty to each other on their home planet, starting many civil wars, two of which got the whole world involved...But that's another story. finally, Fate and the One Above it set up some new rules which I've kinda explained but haven't gone into detail about, I guess.'

The Deep Magic paused, and then recited as if it were from memory, 'If a Logical kills a Magical, then that logical must die by a Magical. If a Magical kills a Logical, then that Magical must die by a Logical. In that way, the lives are even.' the Deep Magic went on, 'That's where we come in. We knew that Logicals were bound to come back anytime, so Fate set us up to become your Magical guardians. We're here to make sure Magicals don't kill you, and you don't kill Magicals. You can still think like a Logical, but you can't talk like one. _That_ we've restricted.'

Dire's thought whirred, processing all of this. But then how could he convert Zim?

Reading his thoughts, the Deep magic laughed. 'don't even think about it. magic would be too angry and that'd get you in trouble. unless...Well, nevermind! Just don't try it.'

'Unless what?' Dire snapped.

'Weeeeeell...unless it's already written down in Fate, but that's highly unlikely since there hasn't been a Logical around for years and Fate mostly sided with Magic, I believe. All that you're going to do is observe from afar. Zim probably has his own plans laid out for him.'

Dire disconnected his thoughts with the Deep Magic and tried to think about that. He WOULD convert his Tainted, no matter what Fate said. Maybe there was someone else...

Wait! There were her children. He had no idea if the Taint had been successful with her, but then again; what was the chance that her kids were with Zim?

One in a billion?

**Present Day**

Zim breathed a sigh of relief as the last bell rang. Gathering the few books he actually needed, he walked out of the class room (being careful not to step in the mysterious brown muck in the corner) and strutted down the hall, merging with the mass of students to attempt to lose dib again. He knew it was halfway pointless, with his green skin, but maybe the Dib would lose his glasses and be blind again.

He found it amusing to steal the Dib-human's glasses and run away and hide occasionally. despite their slight height difference, Zim had no trouble just reaching up suddenly and taking them. He'd tried them on, once, and been startled by how different everything looked through them. How did the Dib see through those things?!

He heard the heavy, licking footsteps behind him and quickened his pace as he shuffled out the doors with the mass. Finally, his antennae no longer picked up the Dib's horrid noise.

He took a shortcut that even the Dib didn't know about (which included riding on the top of a bus) and was quite happy to run inside his house and toil away the rest of the day in his lab.

Dib had lost sight of Zim, but it was mostly on purpose. He felt tired and eager to get home and eat dinner with Gaz, watch Mysterious Mysteries, and then make sure Zim wasn't doing anything weird through the spybug he had planted (yet again) in Zim's house.

The day just felt too strange to go out again and try to spy on an alien.

He and Gaz walked side by side all the way home, although no conversation was started other than Gaz sarcastically commenting on the fact Dib wasn't talking to himself or her the entire way. Dib ignored her and went back to his own thoughts about what zim's new evil plan might be- maybe something to do with how weird the day felt? Nah. even zim looked a little...scared, dare he put it.

The rest of the evening went quite well, however. He and Gaz had pizza, the episode of Mysterious Mysteries was good (even though it was a re-run), and Zim didn't look like he was up to anything for a while. Life was pretty good for Dib.

Just to be sure, however, he climbed down into the Telescope Room right before bed and took a look at the night sky. All clear- wait. What was that?

There was a sparkle in the sky, and it was definitely not a star. in fact, it seemed to be getting closer and closer...

Dib cried out and leapt from his spot, rushing out of the room and into his backyard. The shine in the sky grew and grew, until it became a flaming black ball of...something, and hit the street behind him, bouncing several times before skewering the ground and sliding several hundred feet, crashing through several fences and lighting bushes on fire, and coming to a complete halt right in front of Dib.

Dib just stared as the flames slowly died down and people started turning on lights to see what the fuss was about. They screamed and threw things at him, but he seemed indifferent to them.

That thing...it looked like...

_a blue-eyed alien coming out from a blackened spaceship_

The thing from his dream! that's what this was! Dib rushed to it, forgetting that it was still white-hot, and recoiled with a cry of pain when he tried to touch it. Putting his hand in his mouth, he stood back and watched as the cockpit opened with a moan and a hiss. Taking a second look at it, he noticed it looked like Zim's ship, with the glass door in front barely distinguishable against the blackened frame. after a couple of minutes, the smoke began to go down a bit and the door opened a bit more. dib saw a frail green hand reach out from under the door.

Finally, the top opened completely and Dib saw a green and white lump begin to come out, or rather, it kinds fell out. He rushed to the things side, making sure to support it and not touch the still-hot metal, and carefully led the creature out of the ship. it was evidently knocked out by this point, as it made no motion to remove itself from Dib's grasp. It was a lot shorter and lighter than Dib, and he found it easy to carry it around now. He hurried inside the house, still supporting it on his shoulder.

He quietly laid the thing down on the couch and took a step back to observe what it was. it looked a heck of a lot like Zim, only shorter and it was wearing a white lab coat. but the black gloves and boots were definitely the same, and (Dib checked) there was the mysterious Pak on its back. however, this guy looked worse for the wear. there was a cut and a bump forming on his forehead where he had hit the windshield upon impact into the Earth, and he looked somewhat pale compared to Zim's healthy green.

Dib watched as the Irken began to stir again, and his heart pumped in his chest when he saw it did have the bright blue eyes like in his dream. perhaps this one had come to destroy Zim...or help him. either way, Dib just watched as the alien took in his surrounding surprisingly calmly.

Finally finding its voice, he croaked, "Where am I? What planet is this?"

Dib swallowed heavily and answered, "You're on Earth. Are you an Irken?"

The Irken looked surprised upon seeing dib. his blue orbs looked Dib up and down, and narrowed the slightest bit upon seeing his hair. "Yes. who are you, human? And how do you know my race?"

Dib grinned. "One of your kind has already landed here. Did you come to kill Zim? 'Cause...well, I was just wondering."

Dire's thoughts raced. This human...so his suspicions were correct. things might actually work out for him. Perhaps Fate WAS on his side. so he smiled and led the child on into his web of revenge.

"Yes. I have come to help you. Our kind has decided to get rid of him and leave your planet alone. Take me to him."

"What…? Right now?! But it's late and you don't exactly look-"

"Very well. I can wait…a couple more hours. But first, we must plan. I suspect you have been trying to kill him too?" Dire asked.

Dib nodded and sat down on the floor. "I knew he was evil, so I've been trying to defeat him for quite some time now. I can take him down temporarily, but he always finds some way to come back with a new plan."

Dire nodded, and then extended his hand wearily. "My name, by the way, is Dire. Scientist Dire."

"Dib Membrane." Dib said with a grin. Dire's eyes widened at the name.

"Membrane? As in the famous scientist?" he questioned.

"Yeah…but he doesn't believe in the paranormal. Even Zim's got him convinced that he's just a foreign kid." Dib said angrily.

"Who was your mother?" Dire asked, not bothering to consider it was a personal question. Dib didn't seem to notice or care.

"I don't know. She died when Gaz and I were really young. Dad doesn't mention her much…" his thoughts became a bit scattered, and something from his memory tugged at him before he forgot it again.

"ah…I see. So, Gaz is your…sister? Where is she?"

"She's probably asleep. She hates my paranormal studies, but she's beaten Zim down a couple of times. She got some sort of weird power over people, making their nightmares come true and controlling shadows. I try not to mess with her, but we still get into fights…most of which I lose." Here, Dib bowed his head with shame.

Dire smiled. "Don't fret. Siblings of your kind fight well on into their prime and then forgive each other. She is just a very powerful female." His antennae twitched.

"Well, anyways, what's your plan?" Dib asked, changing the subject. Dire's thoughts exchanged back to his master plan.

"Where is somewhere that we could trap and confront him? Someplace that he would not suspect to have mechanisms to take him down…We can't use normal, human things, as his Pak could break through them." Dire furrowed his eyes.

"Um…There's always the mall…"

"Mall? What is this 'mall'?" Dire asked, cocking his head.

"It like a huge shopping place, only filled with lots of different types of people and stores. A couple of years ago, a security guard was caught making strange zombie people. He was fired, and his weapons to guard the place were supposedly locked down, but they are probably still there and workable. The normal people of this world are too lazy and stupid to try and take anything down." Dib narrowed his eyes at the last phrase.

"Sounds perfect, if we could only get the place up and working again. When would be a good time to enter and reprogram this mall?" Dire asked

"Um…right before it closed, I guess. We'd have to sneak in and stay there until the security guards left, and then reboot the system." Dib said, and then added thoughtfully, "It'd be pretty easy too, hacking into it. It can't have that great of a security system by itself."

"Indeed. Would tomorrow night be fine, as I can tell you are weary, as am I?" Dire purred.

"Sure! But where are you going to stay?" Dib asked. Dire glanced around, and figured out another plan quickly.

"How often does your father use the basement?" Dire asked.

"Um, only when he comes home. You could stay there for a while, but you'd have to be careful and promise not to touch anything." Dib said.

"Sound fine. Thank you." Dire said, smiling. Dib helped him up and over to the door, and down the steps, where Dire appeared to fall asleep as soon as he hit the chair.

Dib tiptoed back up the steps and locked the door behind him, then realized- "Hey, irkens don't sleep! Oh well. Must be REALLY tired." He then went upstairs to his bed.

Dire opened his eyes as soon as Dib left him, and then shot up and began to rifle through the room. He searched around until he found exactly what he needed- a memory chip. He rushed to the Supercomputer lying in the corner and flicked it out of screensaver mode, only to find a password block. Quickly putting two and two together, (as he knew Magicals were quite stupid at this) he typed in "membrane" and it logged him in. He found the right cord for the Supercomputer and plugged in his Pak. The computer beeped at him, and he easily found his files on it. Plugging in the memory chip, he began his long task of filling it.

Now was the time. He had found Zim, made a plan to capture him with this "Dib", and had even quickly found out where _her_ children were.

A smile tugged at his lips as he remembered the infamous Dr. Megan Membrane, leading scientist of the Cartoon Worlds, along with her husband Professor Isaac Membrane. So the great erasure truly had swiped their memories, but evidently not their natures…

"_D-Dire! What…What's wrong with you?"_

"_Oh dear little Meg…There's nothing wrong with me. In fact, I feel better than I have in a long time."_

"_It's that…that Logic thing that's going around, isn't it? Don't hurt me, or I swear I'll- EEEEEEEEEEK!"_

…

"_Mommy?"_

"_D-Dib……….."_

END CHAPTER FOUR

I'm sorry this is late! I kinda forgot it's May. o.O

Ohhhh, so Dire knows something from Dib's past…something to do with his mother…

Several explanations- Why it didn't take Dire so long to arrive was because it didn't ACTUALLY take Zim that long to arrive. In one of the episode commentaries, Jhonen mentions that they just threw in the "six months" thing to make it seem funnier. He admits it didn't take Zim that long.

Also, Dib had completely convinced himself that dire was there to help. You've gotta remember- once Dib gets focused on one idea, he's hard to convince otherwise. The boy's pretty stubborn for one who gets put down all the time. Just thought I aught to mention it.

The cast of Invader Zim blongs to Jhonen Vasquez. The song title is from the Puddle of Mudd song. has nothing to do with the chapter; I just like the song and the title seemed to fit at the time...

Please tell me if there are any mistakes! My capitalization thing wasn't working on Word, for some reason.


	5. Fake It

There's Always a Light in the Darkness

_Or, The Tale of the Logical_

By: The Talking Absol

Chapter Five: Fake It

Dib really wondered if this would work. He had tricked Zim in the past into coming to a set-up, but it had gone completely wrong in turned out in the favor of Zim. Dib wasn't sure if Zim would fall for this trick again- and even if he did, he might think something absurd would happen again like last time. So, Dib took a guess and concluded that the Fates were mostly in their favor.

As Dire and he set up his room to broadcast their lure, Dib watched Dire carefully. Although he was positive that Dire was on his side, he still wanted to keep an eye on the alien just in case Zim ad sent him. But Dire appeared to be down-and-determined to catch Zim. Also, on occasion, Dib caught Dire just staring at Dib, like he was analyzing him or something. It gave Dib the creeps for some reason, those icy blue eyes narrowing in concentration at him. As soon as he realized Dib saw him, however, he turned back to his work, occasionally muttering things under his breath.

Gaz hadn't seemed to mind their new guest; she simply raised an eyebrow and made a comment about how Dib needed to have his brain cut out and asked if Dire could do that. Dire, in turn, gawked at her. He had seemed...stunned by her appearance.

_"What's wrong with you?" she growled, eyes turning to slits._

_Dire shut his mouth and grew more attentive, then strode up to her and stared up at her. "You are Dib's...younger sister, correct?" he asked._

_"What's it to you?" she retorted, growing angrier. Dib stumbled a warning out to Dire about Gaz, but apparently he didn't hear it._

"_I don't know if you realize this, but you look exactly like your mother." Dire said pointedly. Gaz went from angry to full shock in about two milliseconds._

_"Wh-Wha? You knew our mother?" Dib cried._

_Dire turned slightly to him. "Yes. My body was burned, but my Pak remained with my memories...I died about 15 or 16 years ago in your time. Irkens and Humans on this planet worked together all the time. But that was a long time ago. Not long in your time, but very long in mine. Yes, I did know your mother. She was..." Here he seemed to pause, and grew a slightly sad look, "...A good person."_

When Dib left for school, leaving Dire to finish up the broadcasting area, Dire began to wonder again about his plan. He had been surprised by Gaz's appearance. He had almost panicked for a moment, thinking it was really Meg, back from her grave. But then he had seen the heavily-lidded eyes and realized it could not be her. Meg had never hesitated to show off her gorgeous hazel eyes.

He had no idea if she actually Tainted them, but he wasn't about to bother to find out. He just needed to concentrate on Zim and fooling Dib successfully. Then, when things worked out like he planned, Zim and he could experiment on the Membrane children and see if their Taints were still there after all these years.

Dire almost laughed. Things were going perfectly so far...His revenge would soon be at hand!

**Later, in Zim's Base**

Zim had only been home a short while when he received an alert telling him he had a message coming in. He couldn't track where specifically it was coming from, but he decided to answer it anyway. Pausing in his work, he pushed a green button while Gir rushed in, screeching something about needing Tacos. He ran around in circles about Zim's feet, but Zim ignored him and tried to listen to the two dark figures on his screen.

"WHO, might I ask, bothers the mighty work of ZIM?" Zim demanded.

One of the figures narrowed its eyes, and said in a deep voice, "We call from the planet Blorck in need of your assistance. We have some toxic slime that we don't need and some super weapons...just lying around. W don't want them anymore, so we were wondering..." here he trailed off, and glanced at his blue-eyed co-pilot.

The blue-eyed one just stared in awe at Zim. Finally, the deep-voiced one picked back up. "Uh...do you want them in your conquest of Earth?"

Zim sighed. "Yes yes yes. Just drop them off somewhere...What meeting place do you propose?"

"The Mall of Greatness. Meet us there at midnight. Bring no one with you, and don't wear a disguise so we know who you are. Good-bye." with that, they logged off.

Zim smiled, and then turned and strutted towards the pod bay. Toxic slime and super weapons would be a nice addition to his new evil plan, but...

**At Dib's House**

Dib threw the light switch and glared at Dire. "What happened? He might've found out!" He lowered himself down to Dire's level and asked calmly, "What were you thinking?"

Dire still stared at the camera. "...He's grown. Those eyes bring back...memories."

Dib grew sympathetic, then said, "It's alright. We've got him now, whether he realizes it or not!" He straightened up and grabbed his black spy bag, letting Dire out first ant then following in his footsteps to the car.

**A Short Time Later**

Upon arriving at the mall, Dire quickly shot out of the car and stumbled away and towards the mall while Dib got out and locked it behind him, jogging after Dire.

"Great moons of Irk! Where did you learn to drive? The Zoo?" Dire cried.

Dib blushed slightly in embarrassment. "No! I just...don't drive that often. I'm sorry; you okay?"

Dire shook himself off, and then nodded. "Let's go." he said, and they headed for the doors.

Dib was about to just blow the doors up when Dire stopped him and tried the handle. Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly) it flew open with Dire's hand. They stared at each other a second, and then walked in without a word. They were quick to find the control room, and began their work.

**Midnight, Mall of Greatness**

Zim got out of his Voot Cruiser and signaled to Gir to go away. Gir laughed insanely and drove off to find some tacos and then come back and pick up Zim. Zim knew he wouldn't be back for a while, but he could deal with the Dib-stink on his own.

Oh yes, he knew this was the Dib-human's idea. He'd seen this one done before, and he knew exactly how to handle things. He wasn't stupid, of course. He was ZIM!

Zim walked along, oblivious to the two figures standing high above him. Humming a tune and turning his head around occasionally, Zim, and one of the figures, truthfully, had no idea what was really going to happen next.

Dib turned to Dire abruptly. "I just wanted to...thank you. For believing me and helping me. Even if you are one of his own kind." Dib said with a grin.

Dire barely looked at him, blue eyes narrowing slightly. "Yes. Your...welcome." His eye focus was on Zim as the other alien unknowingly walked into their trap.

Dib turned to Zim, a little disappointed. But his excitement grew as Zim neared the set-off point. "Come on...Just a little closer..." he whispered.

Zim's wig lifted slightly as he heard something. It was a soft "click" when he stepped on a tile. He knew about the systems in the mall, having a previous horrific encounter with the disturbing ex-security man who ran the place at night. But as far as Zim knew, the man had been fired long ago, one of his "Zombie People" getting out to the world. After that, his absurd systems had been shut down. But, just for old times, Zim paused. Hearing nothing more, he moved on.

Big mistake.

The fish in the fountain behind Zim (whose water no longer came out anyway) shot a long, claw-like grapple hook out of its mouth. Zim jumped with expertise, but it moved to meet him, controlled by a radio remote. It grabbed his left leg and drug him to the ground. He let out a yelp of surprise as he hit the ground, face crunching against the floor. The caterpillar next to the store on his left shot another grapple hook at him, nabbing his left arm right at the wrist. The fish's cord pulled tight, lifting Zim a good foot and a half off the ground, as the other cord became taught, pulling him in two opposing directions.

He hissed, and his Pak glowed and opened, spider legs shooting out and preparing an attack. However, the stuffed pig statue across the floor from the caterpillar shot two cords out of its nose, one grabbing his right arm and the other his Pak, quickly retracting back until they were tight. Zim jerked unexpectedly to the right as they pulled him in that direction also, and his Pak paused in a state of shock for a moment. Then the cord that had grabbed his weapons pulled them out with a "SNAP!" and a jolt of electricity. Zim screamed in terror, realizing he was now almost defenseless, and struggled uselessly, his right leg swinging desperately (being the only limb free). He stopped and let out a snarl as Dib jumped down from the second floor (although Zim did laugh when Dib's legs collapsed beneath him and he screamed in pain).

"Dib-stink! Ha! I knew it! What are you planning this time? To hopefully get abducted instead of you stupid partner this time?" Zim sneered.

Dib got up shakily, but immediately recovered when he faced his enemy. Letting out a huge grin, he walked right up to Zim and crouched down to glare at him up close.

"Oh...you're SO going to get it this time, Zim. This time...you're not getting away, space-boy." He said with a huge hint of triumph in his tone.

Zim snarled and grunted as he struggled to get free. "You shall never get ZIM! NEVEEEERRRR!!" he screeched. Dib simply covered his ears.

Dib grinned again and whipped off Zim's wig, Zim's black antennae now revealed. He paused briefly, and then reached up to take Zim's contacts out. Zim, however, had other plans. He crunched down as hard as he could on Dib's hand with his sharp, zipper-like teeth. There was a momentary pause.

"OOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW!!" Dib screeched.

He started shaking his hand wildly, moving Zim's head in all directions. But the alien wouldn't let go until he tasted blood. He spat out Dib's hand, snake-like tongue recoiling at the metallic taste on his teeth.

Dib waved his hand as if trying to shake out a fire. He pouted slightly at the new wound on his hand, then glared down at Zim. Dib scowled, and did something he'd wanted to do for a very long time.

He kicked Zim right in the chest. Zim let a satisfying "oof!" and recoiled with pain. Dib's scowl grew larger. He kicked Zim again. And again. Each hit brought a new sense of overwhelming pride and power into Dib. All the things Zim had done to him...all the insults and beatings and humiliation...

After a couple more hits, Dib kicked him once more for good measure, making sure Zim felt a whole new wave of pain. Dib was panting now, rage building.

"You...you freak! You will beg for death when they lay you on the autopsy table! But you know what? I won't give you that pleasure! And I'll make sure you're alive and kicking for every moment of it! I want to see your face as they rip out your...organs! Or whatever the hell your kind calls them- I want to see you suffer! For every single moment since you've been here, my life has gotten worse and worse! Nothing but ridicule and hate every single waking moment of my life! I'm going to repay you Zim...this time, with interest!" Dib yelled, fists clenching.

Zim glanced painfully up at Dib, pure malice in his eyes. "You...stupid human...You think...you're going to have...that pleasure?" he panted. His eyes narrowed. "You'll die before you see Zim beg to you!"

There was an arising amount of hatred in the hall. It rose to even a level that Gaz would've paused and possibly trembled. The two enemies glared at each other for what seemed like forever. Then, Dib scowled and his leg twitched again. Zim glance briefly at it, barely a flicker of worry before glancing back up at Dib with animosity. Dib smiled evilly.

Just as he prepared to kick the snarl off of Zim's face, Dire cried, "Dib! That's enough, boy."

Dib and Zim both whipped up to see Dire walking towards them from the stairs, arms behind his back. Zim's eyes widened.

"You...You're Irken! Get rid of this worm-baby and free me!" Zim hissed.

Dire stopped a few feet from Zim, and looked with a kind of parental longing to comfort the fires in Zim's eyes. But he blinked and it disappeared.

"I'm sorry..." Dire tried to hide the excitement building up in his thoughts. His "heart" (as the humans would call it) pounding in his chest, he continued, "Zim."

_My smeet...my Tainted...my..._So many other words could've been said at the moment.

Zim's eyes narrowed. "Do I know you?" he asked.

Dire grew startled. "_Does he...? No. It couldn't be._" he thought.

"No. But I know you." a light smile crossed his face as he walked up and guided Dib out of his way. He reached down and calmly removed Zim's contacts. Zim closed his eyes for a couple of moments, then blinked harshly, his ruby-colored glossy eyes getting adjusted to the atmosphere. the two aliens stared at each other for a few seconds before Dib suddenly snapped a picture. Both heads turned to face him.

He grinned, and then said to Dire, "It's okay. I'll blur out your image."

Zim scowled at dire. "You?! An _Irken_ soldier working with _hyumans_?! How dare you betray your own kind!" Zim cried.

Dire's eyes narrowed, and he calmly stepped over the cord holding Zim's right arm, his placement now at Zim's side. "I could honestly care less about my past kind." he said.

Zim's eyes widened again. "How...how..." he said again when Dib snapped another photo.

"I can't wait to send this to Mysterious Mysteries! Now, no one will laugh at me!" Dib cried, back to his jovial self.

Zim glanced around for an exit. Finding none, he glared back at Dib and Dire. "You stink beasts and betrayers won't get the almighty ZIM! Zim will never be defeated!" Zim yelled.

"Well, that's what you thought up until now, Zim! But you've been defeated by one of your own kind and one of those 'stink beasts'!" Dib laughed.

Dire glanced somewhat annoyed at Dib. Then, he crouched down and tapped Zim's Pak. There was a whir and it opened up, revealing a mass of wires and repairing parts. Zim attempted to turn his head to see what Dire what up to.

"Hey! Hey! What are you- OW! That's the main wire to- ACK! My spine! OOF! What are you doing to ZIM?!" Zim cried as small jolts of electricity began to spark up from his Pak. Dib paused in a kind of amazement.

Dire didn't hesitate. He continued to work at whatever he was going for, despite Zim's outbursts. Finally, Dire did stare at something in Zim's Pak with a kind of triumphant evil in his eyes. Zim moaned, and struggled again with his restraints.

An evil grin crossed Dire's face. Finally, the true Logical in him was coming through. his eyes took a darker tint, slitted pupils suddenly appeared, and his teeth glinted eerily in the limited light. Dib stumbled back a bit.

"Um...Dire? Are you okay? What are you doing to-" Dib stopped asking questions when Dire's grin grew wider and Dib's pestering was obviously ignored.

Abruptly, Dire reached pack into his own Pak and pulled out two tiny objects. One looked like a red pen, and the other looked like a computer chip. He stuck the computer chip thing in his teeth, holding it there delicately. Then, with the red pen in his right hand, he held the pen while his left hand stopped Zim's leg from swinging up and hitting him in the knee. He put the pen in Zim's Pak, and a huge course of electricity shot through Zim. He screeched in surprise, and struggled harder. But dire was calm. He continued to move the pen about in an absurd manner in Zim's Pak, Zim screaming and throwing a fit all the while. Blue jolts coursed through Zim, even going up the cords that held him and sizzling their holsters. Dib began to grow scared and backed off further.

Zim's clawed hands clenched into fists while he attempted to bite his lip and hold in another scream. "_I cannot show my weakness! I cannot, I will not, I-_" his thoughts said. Dire's final jerky movement made Zim twitch, but he held it back. Holding the pen in place, he briefly let go of Zim's leg to quickly reach up and grab the chip from his teeth. Using Zim's temporary moment of relief from pain, Dire shoved the chip into Zim's Pak. then, he rotated the pen and zig-zagged it across the Pak.

A pure, searing pain shot through Zim's body, like a thousand hot knives jabbing into him all at once. Electricity shot all over him, and Dire jerked the pen away and quietly tapped Zim's Pak again when it didn't jolt at him. It closed, but it was still whirring and shooting sparks. Zim clenched his fists and bit his lower lip until green blood dropped from his mouth. But the pain would not stop. It felt like he was on fire and then being abruptly dipped in ice-cold water; again, and again, and again...

Zim could not hold his protest in no longer as one final huge volt of electricity shot through him. He screamed in pure agony as his entire DNA was re-written; his Pak screeching in a foreign language and wires shooting out, searing the cords that bound him and bringing him to his knees. Zim's hand immediately flew up to his head, clenching it until deep marks appeared in his skin. His scream grew, Wires from his Pak now attacking him and conducting the jolts. Finally, it flashed, and began to calm down. Zim's scream faded to a pitiful whimper as he began to shake.

Dib was now up against the wall, terrified. His words earlier had sounded so good at the moment, but actually hearing Zim scream in pain was different than imagining it. Dib actually felt a kind of pity for him. Dire, on the other hand, stood back and admired his work. The wires wrapped around Zim retracted slowly back into his Pak. Zim began to shake less, and simply sat there in complete and utter shock.

**Meanwhile**

The Deep Magic, some may argue, cannot feel or think.

That is a load of crap.

The Deep Magic was humming along though Earth Three when it received a thought from Fate.

_A Logical has been made...Go to Earth Four and find the poor soul. It is time to fulfill your end of the deal, Deep Magic. _fate purred quietly, and then left calmly as if there wasn't a care in the world.

The Deep Magic paused, considering this. Then, it quickly left Earth Three and was at Earth Four in an instant. Once there, it detected such a strong reading it remembered back, briefly, to the War. Then, it perused on until it found him, and nearly had a heart attack in shock when it saw who it was.

_No...I never thought it would come to this...Zim..._

The Deep Magic purred, and then rushed to meet its new partial host.

**Mall of Greatness, 12:27 PM**

the thoughts that passed through Zim's head went something like this in the next couple minutes:

"_Oh shit...no...what happened...? Am I dead? Did Dib kill me? Or that Irken Dire? I don't want to die..._

_No...Zim is not dead. I cannot...I feel...power. My Pak...It re-arranged. Something. The shadows are pooling towards me. What is this new knowledge? Is it an upgrade...? Maybe...Dire's on my side and he just tricked stupid Dib...Heh..._

_Stupid Dib_."

An image flashed through him, one that had sent him into la-la land every night for the past couple of nights. Dib's horrific face just before Zim finally killed him- shooting him apart, ripping him to pieces, other gruesome ways of getting rid of his enemy. Earlier, the thoughts had kind of scared him too, as if some part of him didn't really want Dib gone. But now, as those insane thoughts filled him, he felt...happy.

Other thoughts came too. One's that he had never really thought about, like how SIR robots were really made, with all those technical wires now making sense to Zim. Or how to use some of those weapons for some REAL fun on Earth. But his favorite at the moment was from someone named Newton and his three laws of Motion. He recalled, a bit faintly, Dire's voice reading them to him from a Physics book. His first Logical thoughts...

_One, an object will stay at rest or in motion unless otherwise provoked by another force..._

his mouth twitched up into an evil grin. the shadows in the mall collected at his feet and reached up into his Pak, unbeknownst to anyone.

_Two, Force equals mass times acceleration..._

Red zig-zag marks spread all over him, as fiery as his eyes.

_Three, for every action there is an equal and opposite_

His eyes shot open, revealing red eyes with deep magenta slits for pupils.

_Reaction._

**...**

Dire stared in pure happiness as Zim's Pak reacted and expanded upon its tainted DNA. All those years or toiling away were now going to be paid for...His revenge against the Irken kind was soon. And after them, the rest of the Cartoon Worlds, just like Logic had planned...

He saw the magenta-colored eyes pop open, and saw one of them turn lackadaisically to Dire, and it narrowed upon seeing him.

"Dire..." Zim growled in a voice that wasn't really his own. It was deeper and more throaty, like and animal's, but it had slick undertone that made him- dare he say it- seductive. Like he would lure you in and then eat you up in one gulp; never even think twice about it.

"Hello, my Logi-" Dire didn't even get to finish. In one swift move, Zim shot to his feet and swung around, spider legs whipping out and pulsing an angry red.

He turned and stabbed Dire right through the stomach.

Thick, green alien blood trickled out from the wound. Dire's shocked face never left him.

"Well, this was...unexpected." he thought, and then his world went black.

Zim's eyes were wide with anger, his pupils small and thin in his irises. He pulled back his spider leg and let dire fall in a heap on the floor before turning to a terrified Dib.

"**GRRRRRRRRRR**!" Zim growled, flashing his claws. In response, dib did the only thing he could do.

He turned and ran away, Zim hot on his trail.

END CHAPTER FIVE

Woo! that was a rush! Sorry it's a tad late- I'm enjoying summer waaaaaaaaay too much. :3

I had actually written part of this scene at an earlier time, so I was very happy to finally put it in. And, BTW; sorry fangirls and fanboys who love short stories- this isn't the pinnacle of action, although next chapter will have all you squealing. There's still a LOOOOOOOOOOOONG way to go before the story starts really building up to the climax. I plan to drag this out like a bad soap opera- It's all for the franchise! XD Just kidding. I just knew from the very beginning that this was going to be a very long story. And it's not even cannon to the rest of my stories!

the Cast of Invader Zim does not belong to me; they belong to Nick and Jhonen Vasquez. The three laws of motion belong to...Physics! And the Song for the Chapter name belongs to Seether.

Dire, however, does belong to me. sorry for killing him off, fangirls, but he needed to die or else very bad stuff would happen. How's that for a twist, eh? ;) Also, Zim's Logical design belongs to me.

Next chapter Dib fights for his life against Zim's new strength and power...An element I promised I'm finally bringing to you, my lovely readers! See ya next time!


	6. The Becoming

A few warnings before I begin- this chapter is kinda violent. Not very graphic or gory- just violent. A BIG fight scene, basically. And it gets REALLY creepy (Emphasis on the creepy). The kind of creepy that makes me shiver. And I'm writing it!

Me: Logical Zim, you're creepy!

Zim!Logical: I know. But I'm also sexy, no? -strikes a pose-

Me: … -bashes head into wall-

And so, without further delay, I bring you-

There's Always a Light in the Darkness

Or, _The Tale of the Logical_

By: The Talking Absol

Chapter Six: The Becoming

_Dib turned and ran, Zim hot on his tail._

Before he had even taken two steps, however, he heard Zim's mechanical spider legs swing out and Zim was suddenly upon him, taking Dib down to the floor in a hissing mess. Dib closed his eyes in order to avoid contact with Zim's, and he rolled over and kicked Zim somewhere hard. He heard Zim hiss again, but he recoiled just long enough for Dib to get back up but fall again. He fell to the floor and coughed, still paralyzed with fright. However, he quickly recovered and bolted off, terrified.

"Ha Ha...you can't escape me, little worm..." Zim's voice sang dauntingly throughout Dib's head. Dib, panicked, ran into and over anything in his path. Whatever Dire had done to him...What he had made Zim become...It wasn't the Zim he knew...However, Dib didn't want to find out what Zim had become.

Moreover, he didn't want to die.

Dib fled the mall, leaping over trash cans and other obstacles until his savior, the EXIT sign, glowed brightly before him. Some kind of relief flowed through him, but not for long. Another crash behind him sent his panicked brain into a frenzy again. Dib closed in on the door, threw it open (nearly tearing off the door handle), and thrust himself inside.

As soon as he entered, he whipped around (not bothering to check out his surroundings) and slammed the door shut behind him, using his entire body weight to hold it, right arm pressed forcefully to the cold, hard metal.

Abruptly, something slammed against the door, and Dib let out a gasp and attempted to steady his slipping feet. Another slam and something scratched against the door like a dog wanting to be let in. The next slam sent Dib almost slipping to the floor, and he cried out in fear and shock as the door began to open. Dib put all his might (that he had left, of course) into holding the door against whatever was on the other side. Finally, with one last hard push, he shoved it back into its closed position.

Dib glanced around hurriedly, looking for something to hold its own against this. Spotting a folded metal chair nearby, he grabbed it in-between one of the slams and was about to prop it against the door when it opened again. Dib froze in pure terror as a three-clawed hand eased its way around the crack to hold the end of the door. A hiss of satisfaction echoed in the area.

Without really thinking about it, Dib ran up and slammed his entire weight into the door, causing it to smash the hand between the door frame and door. A scream, more animal-like than human, screeched throughout the entire mall and parking lot. Dib worked quickly, ignoring at best he could, and propped the chair against the doorknob, fitting it into a nearby rung framing the area around the door. The hand retracted, and the door slammed shut and stayed that way. The thing on the other side howled again, and then...

Silence.

_Ahhhh…The sweet suspicion..._

Dib panted heavily, listening with a kind of strain to hear anything, anything at all. Nothing. He breathed a sigh of relief, and turned around to see his surroundings.

He was in the lower parking lot, where so many years ago he had encountered Rat People. Dim, yellow lights ran all along only the first couple of rows and aisles, making the first quarter of place glow with browns and yellows, but the back resonated with a creepy, black darkness. Pillars held the roof up, placed in a logical order along the rows of white-lined parking spaces. Dib climbed down the narrow stairs and looked around for any sign of life. None. Sighing, he walked towards one of the further pillars in the lit end of the endless lot and sat down, laying his legs flat on the cold floor. He was not used to being so athletic. Sure he was skinny, but he didn't have any muscle.

Dib relaxed for a few minutes. There was no other way in, he was positive. Glancing around in both directions, he noted he was completely alone.

_Alone..._

God, how many times had that been realized? After all, he really was almost alone in everything he worked for or did. Zim being an alien, all the other spottings...no one believed him; no one appreciated him...

He couldn't think like that. 100 confidence; they'd all see he was right...

He remembered back to when Zim had done a whole life simulation for him (although, it was more really to find out who had thrown a muffin at Zim) and it had been…wonderful. So bright and happy! Dib wanted it; he wanted it so bad he could almost taste it...

Letting out another short sigh, he glanced at his watch. Two thirty. in seven hours the mall would open and people would come rushing in. Here they'd find him, call him crazy, and maybe he'd find someone to call his Dad to come and pick him up. If he got lucky. But for now, he just wanted to sleep. So, Dib closed his eyes and let his breathing return to normal, ears still listening for any sound. As he was about to fall asleep, he heard a light shuffle and clink of metal above him. Disgruntled and slightly upset at the interruption, he opened his eyes and looked...

Into the eyes of Death.

There, crouching across his legs and blocking his escape, was Death himself.

Dib knew it was Death, for its eyes glowed red with a pure kind of hatred and evil glee not known to anyone on Earth. Slitted pupils, magenta in color, glared at him from under a glossy, thin coat of protective covering over its eyes. Red, firey, zig-zag marks flared across its body, pulsing every once in a while. It had on a red Invader's outfit, but it was no longer black striped like it had once been. The Red marks had demented the stripes, turning them into fangs across its torso and rabid licks of spikes on the lower half of its uniform. Black gloves and boots now curved back into cruel sharp ends, extending past its knees or elbows. Its somewhat broken antennae perked casually atop its green, slightly pointed head.

And that zipper-like grin only grew.

It was Zim...but it wasn't...Dib could not accept that _this was_ Zim. This was some...horrible...mutation of something, but not the egotistical, stupid, green alien he once knew.

He was terrified of _this_, this _thing!_

Dib's eyes grew to the size of saucer plates, and his pupils shrunk to the size of peas.

"Hello, Dib-Worm." Zim hissed.

The next moment, Dib was being flung through the air with amazing speed and strength, and he let out a yelp as he slammed into the pillar across the road. He fell to the floor, and tried to straighten himself back up. Zim's mad laugh echoed throughout the hallway, but when Dib looked up, Zim wasn't there.

Dib coughed, and then stood up shakily. "Hiding?! You're using the shadows to hide you, you coward! Come out and fight me if you mean it!" Dib's voice rang uneasily in the open arena.

An annoyed hiss came from Zim's throat as he swung down from the shadows above Dib, grabbing the top of the teen's shirt and shoving him forcefully back into the pillar. Dib again looked with shock into Zim's hateful eyes, this time a frown creasing across the alien's face.

"I am no longer the Zim you once knew...for that you can be sure, Dib-filth. And if you think -with that amazingly large head of yours it seems nigh impossible- but if you think you can readily call me a coward...you are wrong. Oh ho-ho, you are sssso wrong, Dib..." Zim grinned again at Dib's terrified face.

"I'll prove who's the real coward..." Zim continued, very quietly so only Dib would hear, "Because in this game, there are no rules."

And with that, Zim's grin turned into a snarl as he turned and flung Dib into another pillar face first. Dib smashed into it, and he could feel his face and part of his nose crunch under pressure. He slipped, and gathered himself quickly, but Zim was already at his side again. With a ferocious cry, he grabbed Dib's right leg and shoulder and lifted Dib up over his head with amazing strength that Dib never knew he had. Without bothering to note this, however, Dib screamed and struggled in the alien's grasp.

Zim only grinned and glanced up at his opponent before bringing Dib down, lifting his knee up to meet Dib's side with a satisfying "crunch" of ribs breaking. There, he let Dib roll off onto the floor with a short break for a breath. Dib, however, was not in such a shape. He could feel his ribs poking into his lungs and organs, and it hurt. He was having difficulty breathing now; his face turned white from horror and sickness. He could feel vomit arising in his esophagus, but he swallowed gulpfulls of air and he felt his body begin to calm down slightly.

Finally, Dib felt like he could move again. Slowly and gently, he tried to pick himself up. Finding his arms working, he gingerly and painfully propped himself up on his right arm, left hand clutching the wounded area. Dib shivered with nausea, but felt it pass quickly.

Crap...he hadn't expected this...

Zim recovered much faster and watched his enemy get up. It was amazing, all the wonderful organs that they held, humans. Irkens only needed a few superior ones. He wanted to see what they really looked like, though, not just pictures in his head. The Dib-worm would provide a good test subject, perhaps...But later. Not now, when his revenge was at hand…

Grinning further at the idea and tortures in his head too ugly for the reader to see (at the moment), he advanced again on Dib. Dib saw him coming, and tried to scramble away. He got up with much effort, still clutching his side, and took a few unsteady steps back.

Zim suddenly jumped, grabbed Dib, and they fell to the floor in a screaming, tangled mess. Dib was slow because of his pain, but he didn't hesitate when he saw an opening. He brought his right knee up to Zim's side, hearing a lovely "ksh" as it his something sensitive. Zim's eyes narrowed and he rolled onto his back, taking Dib with him. There, he threw Dib to the pillar on his left. Dib smashed into it, but was quicker to recover than last time. He stumbled to his feet and ran around to the other side of the pillar just as Zim ran up and skewered the pillar with his spider legs. Dib heard Zim growl, and felt the pillar being tugged upon. Recognizing his chance, Dib ran back to Zim's side and saw his legs were now embedded in the pillar, with Zim's useless struggling trying to get them out.

Dib gritted his teeth and wound his fist up towards his head, finally letting it fly forward into Zim's face. Zim saw it out of the corner of his eye, but his spider legs were blocking his hand from reaching up and blocking it properly. Instead, he reached out in-between the mechanics and grabbed Dib's shirt just as the punch crunched his face. Not numb from the pain yet, he brought Dib's face up to the spider legs and let him go abruptly, letting electricity fly through the legs and into Dib. He heard Dib cry out in pain, and the pillar finally cracked, letting Zim free. With both legs still statically attracted to Dib, he thrust them in the opposite direction, sending Dib flying again. Zim felt his new wound tenderly; even if that boy was scrawny and had no muscle, his knuckles were pointy and they _hurt_. He let Dib recover again while he disappeared once more into the shadows to try a sneak attack.

Dib got up hesitantly and looked around. Great; Zim was gone again, and he doubted the name-calling would help again. Zim knew that he could surprise Dib, and he was now going to use that to his advantage. He heard a series of scuttling noises in the darkness, where the lights had faded in the parking lot many years ago. Dib got up and swallowed heavily, clutching his side. Finally, he pulled himself together and, knowing his doom was being handed to him on a plate, he dragged himself into the darkness.

As he walked along, he began to feel more and more like this was a very bad idea. He had known it was a bad idea in the first place; a trap set up by Zim in order to get Dib in an area where he would be vulnerable, someplace he couldn't see even with his glasses on. He still felt pain from Zim's brutal knee-smack, but Dib could still breathe and move about, so he figured there was no serious damage done. Not yet, anyway. After a couple minutes, Dib glanced behind himself and saw the bug-light glow of the pillar lights far behind him. He was now in almost complete darkness, underground, with no one knowing he was here and no one coming to rescue him.

Great. He was screwed.

He heard another scuttle above him, and Dib instinctively raised his free hand above his head to black any low that might come. None came, and he slowly lowered his arm. The instant he did, however, he felt a rush of wind above his head and he was lifted into the black air. Dib screamed in panic and flailed about, attempting to find his unseen attacker. Just as he grabbed onto an article of clothing with his fumbling hands, his attacker raised him slightly and then chucked Dib onto the ground like a useless toy. Dib cried out again, and closed his eyes (as they were useless) and simply lay on the ground, listening for anything to lash out at.

"Have you given up yet, Dib-human? Are you ready to admit the superiority of the Irken race?" Zim's sly voice came from above Dib.

"Never, Zim! Never in a million years! Not under threat of death or torture!" the words left Dib's mouth immediately, and he also had an immediate suspicion that he was going to regret those words.

Sure enough, he heard Zim cackle again. Dib opened his eyes just as something landed next to him and held him down, one hand grabbing his scythe and the other latching onto the right side of his face. He did see to glowing red eyes come around from behind him and turn their magenta-colored slit pupils towards him, a sharp-toothed grin glinting in their light.

"Good, because I was hoping you hadn't given up yet. I want to...enjoy this. I don't want you to ever give up, so I can keep on both mentally and physically torturing you until you crack. I want to watch your sanity slip from my cradled fingers, Dib, so you can understand the might of my race; the pure power we can hold over your weak-minded kind." Zim said smoothly.

The clawed hand that was clutching Dib's face suddenly let go and ran one claw along Dib's cheek, cutting it open in one long, slow movement. Dib gasped in pain, feeling blood trickle down his cheek. Zim suddenly flew off, disappearing back into the shadows above Dib's head. Dib quickly turned over onto his side, trying to follow Zim's movement by way of the glowing red eyes. But even they had been swallowed by the darkness.

Dib was officially very, very, very terrified. This was most certainly NOT Zim. No matter what this thing said, it was not Zim. Zim was strange, loudly egotistical, not very smart, and, as far as Dib knew, had never fought someone in a fist fight and won. He had already known it wasn't Zim, but that little speech confirmed it. This creature was smart, fast, strong, and creepy in a bad way. And those eyes held nothing but pure malice and killing intent now. Dib realized with a start he needed to get away and get help, even if it did mean retreating for now.

He got up unsteadily in the darkness and started running towards the lights in the distance. He heard Zim crawling around on the roof above him, and he began to run as fast as his lungs would allow him. It wasn't fast enough however, and Dib felt Zim swing down and land on his back again about twenty feet from the lights. He turned Dib over to face him, spider legs holding him slightly in the air. His clawed hands reached around Dib's throat and began to black off his airway, attempting to strangle him. Dib's hands shot up and tried to grab onto Zim's snarling face, but when that didn't work, they tried to pry the arms off his throat. During the struggle, Dib began to gasp for air and kick at Zim desperately, but that didn't seem to stop the determined alien. Instead, he began to press harder against Dib's throat, causing Dib to gag. Dib could feel his face being drained of air, and his world (despite being completely black except for Zim's glowing eyes) began to swirl about and go even darker.

"Oh my God...Zim's going to actually kill me!" Dib's thoughts screamed. His gasps became shorter and more strained, his world beginning to finally close in upon him. He was afraid of what would happen if he blacked out; afraid of what Zim would do, whether it was to him or the world. He closed his eyes and thought about Gaz and what Dire had said about their mother. He thought an apology to both them and the world, and prepared for the worst.

It never came. Instead, a screech came from the other end of the parking lot, and Dib heard a familiar high-pitched voice scream, "MASTER!". Dib felt Zim's pressure lay off for a second, and then Zim was lifted off dib with a sudden and abrupt force.

Dib began to cough and take in huge lungfulls of air, his sight coming back in full swing. Rubbing his throat, he dared a glance up at his savior.

Gir, the innocent little robot, had heard the desperate, secret emergency call from Zim's Pak before the transformation. Unfortunately, he had been at the Crazy Taco at the time, scaring the customers and eating up all of the food. Deciding to finish first, he had eaten fifty more tacos and then stuffed the Crazy Taco man and about twenty-five more tacos into the Voot Cruiser before coming back to pick Zim up. Upon no one coming out but hearing noises coming from inside, Gir hid the ship, changed out of his disguise, and walked inside, thinking his mater was just caught in another ridiculous trap. What he found instead was his master, completely changed, trying to kill Gir's favorite human, the Dib-creature. Gir did the only thing he could think at the time- stop them. It was not normal in Gir's nature to think of these things, but perhaps something else was doing the thinking for him...

"Master! What 'cha doin'? Don't hurt the big-headed boy! You said yourself you needed an enemy to encourage you to go on, don't 'cha remember? Besides, I like Dib!" Gir cried in his little robotic voice. Zim got up to a sideways sitting position from Gir's sudden propulsion from his jet feet (as Gir had flown right into Zim's chest to knock him off). Zim opened his eyes and glared at Gir, killing intent filling his eyes at his poor, weak-hearted robot.

Gir took an unsteady step back. "Master? Are you okay?" he asked as Zim's face turned into a snarl, a growl arising in his throat. Gir's buttons and eyes turned red suddenly, going into Duty Mode, and he scanned Zim hurriedly to see if it was him. It was...mostly. His DNA had been re-arranged so some of the more "recessive" traits were coming out now, something the Computer had said could never happen. Gir's buttons turned blue again, and he began to whimper as Zim got up and advanced on him. Gir was frozen to the spot, hypnotized with fright at Zim's advanced form. Dib, on the other hand, had recovered more and saw Zim's intentions in his eyes. He knew what fate lay in store for even Zim's robot, the only thing close to a "friend" of Zim.

Dib called out to Gir, "Gir! Get out and get help! It's not Zim, whatever it says! Get away!"

Gir turned to him, and then turned back to Zim. "Please, Master! Don't hurt Dib! You can't...you can't..." Gir's words caught in his throat, little tears appearing in his round, blue eyes. He knew that sometimes, crying would seem to touch Zim's sensitive side. Gir knew Zim would never admit it, but Gir knew he and Zim were friends. Zim ate his food (although he always complained about it), danced with him (though he also refused to do it unless forced), and fixed him when he needed repairs. Even if Zim was tough on the outside, Gir knew he was just a big softie on the inside. Gir thought he was the greatest friend and master he had ever known (although he was the only one Gir had ever known), and he wanted to do anything to make sure the Zim he knew was in this form somewhere.

And so, Gir flew up and clutched onto Zim's chest, and began to weep in front of Zim, screaming nonsensical things from past memories and random lines from TV shows. Finally, after a couple of minutes of waiting for a reaction but having none, Gir stopped abruptly and looked up at Zim's face, hoping for a sign.

If anything, that snarl had only grown darker. Zim's slitted pupils had shrunk in his irises, giving him a crazier, angrier look. Dark, frustrated lines creased across his eyes and under his face muscles. His upper lip curled and twitched further, revealing the cruel ends of his pointy teeth. Gir gasped, and his eyes grew wide and bright. This was NOT the reaction he had expected.

Zim grabbed Gir by the head and plucked him off his chest. Bringing Gir up to his face, he yelled, "I WILL kill the Dib-stink, and there's nothing your PATHETIC, STINKING, DEFECTIVE form can do about it! You got that?!"

Gir began to scream and struggle, but Zim thrust his arm back and then threw Gir against a pillar, where he crashed and fell to the floor in a broken-hearted heap. Zim turned upon Dib again, but Dib had already gotten up and started running towards the exit again. There was no use saving Gir- he was still Zim's minion, whether it was the old Zim or this creature. Even though Gir had saved him, Zim was too close to him and it was too much of a useless risk to try and save the little robot. Deciding upon this (but feeling bad about leaving him behind anyway), Dib raced into the lights and towards the stairs. Zim screamed with fury, and was suddenly flying through the air on his spider legs. Dib screeched to a halt just as Zim passed him and jumped to the top of the stairs, waiting for him. Dib looked around for something, anything, to use against Zim. He spotted something that looked promising, and then turned back up to Zim.

"Come and get me, space boy!" Dib cried, getting into a ready position. Zim grinned and stood in his spot, expecting Dib to turn and run up the stairs. Dib realized this, and started backing up towards his weapon. Zim's Pak was electrically charged, so...

Zim's smile dropped, and he dropped back down to the floor as Dib got too far to run back to the stairs. He apparently did not see Dib's plan, as he advanced upon Dib slowly, obviously waiting for a moment of weakness. Dib began to get ready to tackle Zim, going over his quick and easy plan in his head. Not very well thought-out, but it just might work.

Zim grinned and said, "Whatever you're planning; it won't work. I can see through all your plans, Dib. You pathetic, stupid human..."

Suddenly, Zim was right in front of Dib, and Zim shoved a perplexed Dib up against the wall again, grabbing two handfuls of his shirt. They were, once again, face-to-face.

"What will happen when you're gone? Who will protect the world from my kinds' wrath, Dib? No one believes we exist, other than you." Zim cooed to Dib, eyes turning to cruel sympathy.

"Gaz knows! When she discovers what you've done to me, she'll stop you! You should know to be afraid of her wrath!" Dib cried. Zim's eyes sparked with an evil idea.

"Of course! Your sister! But after you've seen what I can do, shouldn't she be afraid of me?" Zim purred, then continued lower, "Who's going to protect your sister, Dib, when you're dead and gone? Who's going to stop me from messing up that pretty face of hers?"

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. Dib's fury, wound up until this point, burst out of him in a rush of adrenaline and power. Grabbing Zim's shoulders in a cry of rage that shocked even the alien, He turned on his heel and dragged Zim a few feet to their right, and then turned again so he and Zim had switched position. Finally, he drug Zim away from the wall, moved him slightly more to the right, and slammed him into the open Electric Power Box.

Over a thousand volts of coursing electricity surged through both of them, as Zim was still clutching onto Dib's shirt. Screams of pain echoed while the light flashed and then exploded out of their sockets. The only light now was the flashes coursing through the two bodies attached to the power box. After about a minute, however, the electricity (or something else) built up and, under huge pressure, pushed them up and away like a geyser. Both boys landed in different areas from each other, still sparking with little jolts. Dib opened one eye and, even though he couldn't see anymore (as his glasses had flown off somewhere else) he could see Zim a few feet away, mumbling nonsensical things and his Pak jolting and jittering.

He smiled and let himself fall into a world of darkness. He had stopped Zim, even if only temporarily. Permanently would be nice, but that was unlikely with Zim.

He'd just have to wait and see.

END CHAPTER SIX

END OF PART ONE

OMG! Done! screams Zim is so creepy! He freaks me out…

Zim!Logical: Just wait until you see what I have in store for Gaz…-evil grin-

Gaz: …-drinks Powerthirst and kicks him in the face with her ENERGY LEGS- Jerk-off…

Me: Yeah…that's what he thinks. I'm sorry, Chi and other anti-romancers-that-include-ZAGR, but I warn you- it's going to get very ZAGR-ish in the next part. BUT I HAVE A GOOD EXPLANATION FOR IT, I SWEAR!! Just bear with me, please! It DOES NOT, I repeat- DOES NOT get intimate.

Here! In order to convince you to stay with me, I have two HUGE reasons why you should continue to read this:

1. Gaz still pwns Zim's flirty-ness with her darkness. The characters remain mostly true to their natures; Gaz doesn't fall into Zim's arms or just suddenly likes him- she has her reasons for starting to hang out with him. Namely, several things they have in common. -coughhatedibcough- And, she lets him know she's still the alpha. Frequently.

And 2. Just grit your teeth through the parts you hate and you'll be VERY GLAD YOU DID when it's all over and done with. Trust me- I'm not writing this to be a romance; there's a reason why this fic is supposed to be considered very dark. There's another HUGE TWIST at the end of the second part, one that will make you all go "OMGWTFBBQSQUEAL!!"

Also, an apology to the religious folks (I know you're out there) about God's name is used…strangely in several places. I'm not really sure how you can use it in vain other than the "Gosh Darn!" phrase, but I just wanted to apologize just in case. I'm not atheist; I just haven't found the right religion for me yet. I prefer…Well, best not to go into my views on the world here. :3

Invader Zim and its cast belong to Jhonen Vaquez and Nick. Not me! And the song title belongith to NIN.

Logical Zim's design and idea belong to me, as does Dire. (only mentioned briefly,…lol paranoia).

See ya next time! Don't know when exactly the next chapter will be up, as I'm taking a short break to re-write TRR, but hopefully before the end of July! XD


	7. Changes

There's Always a Light in the Darkness

Or, _The Tale of the Logical_

By: The Talking Absol

Chapter Seven: Changes

When Dib awoke, he recognized the bright glow of hospital walls around him. To his right was a window, where the afternoon sun was glowing radiantly. To his left were a couple of machines that beeped every couple of seconds, including a heart monitor. That was just about the only thing in the room, however, as it was rather small but comfy. He was also hooked up to a breathing machine that delivered him fresh oxygen. He stared at the machines for a couple of seconds, and then turned his head slowly to stare at the sheets covering his body. Was it just him or did the room suddenly get darker...?

He hesitantly reached a hand towards the sheets and pulled them up before throwing them off in shock. Across his chest and belly was a long, large series of stitches. He gasped as they began to pulse and his innards moved about in his body, making rooms for something else that was shoving its way through...

Dib screamed as Zim's spiderleg ripped up from his gut and shot towards his face, covered in blood, Zim's wicked new laugh echoing in the room...

Dib woke himself up, screaming, and shot up in his hospital bed. Panting, he glanced around with a new kind of horror as the heart monitor beat rapidly. This room was the exact same one from his dream! With a panic, he threw off the sheets to his bed to check himself.

Instead of stitches, there was a large white bandage around his ribcage. He felt it just to be sure, and a searing pain shot through his side. He gasped, and knew immediately that this was no dream. He heard his door open with a soft click, and Gaz entered the room, whence the lights flickered and the shadows lengthened.

"What are you screaming about? Oh, it's good to see you up because I just wanted to ask- WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING OR THINKING?!" Gaz yelled. She strode up to him, the sky growing dark and cloudy suddenly and the light dimming, making the shadows grow and form into demented shapes. "You could've gotten yourself in some deep trouble, if you already hadn't! Dad was worried sick about you, you know! He couldn't come home, granted, but he nearly made his lab explode when he heard the news this morning!"

"Dad...is concerned?" Dib asked, perplexed. Gaz nodded jerkily.

"They found you in the Mall of Greatness' parking lot, bleeding half to death and several broken ribs and bones. You had also been electrified, and were mumbling something about a 'creepy, red-eyed monster' or something like that. You were lucky they even found you in time. Dad's just worried about the publicity..." Gaz said, noticing the happy look drop from her brother's face. "Yeah, you thought he was more concerned about you? You should know better by now, Dib."

Dib grew frightened and straightened up (a bit painfully) and reached for Gaz's arm, whence she withdrew from his touch, as if disgusted. He didn't notice, and asked her hurriedly, "Was Zim there? Did they find Zim? Or Gir?"

"They didn't find anyone except you...Hey, if this has something to do with your weird obsession, I will send you into a pit of darkness so cruel-" Gaz began to threaten, but Dib shook his head quickly.

"No no no! It's just that Dire and I set up a trap, but Zim knew it was me, but dire had fooled both of us! He had set up the trap to do something weird to Zim, something to do with his Pak. and then, Zim started screaming like he was in pain or something, and when it was done, he stabbed and killed Dire! And then he came after me and we fought and he was about to kill me when Gir came and saved me, but Zim just got angry and hurt him and then I shoved him into the Power Box- hey, why are you glaring at me like that, Gaz? Gaz? GAZ NO- I SWEAR IT WASN'T-!" dib screamed, but it was too late. By the time the nurses got back, he had two more broken ribs and a black eye.

Gaz strolled out of the hospital, turning on her GameSlave 4 and grumbling her herself about her stupid brother. As she walked out into the road, people avoided her and her dark aura, and even the smallest organisms moved quickly out of her path, wishing to avoid her wrath. Lights began to flash across her screen, and she slowly began to feel a bit better when she started beating up the Vampire Piggies. However, she started getting the odd feeling that she was being watched and followed.

She growled aloud, "Whoever you are, either face my nightmares or go away!"

Her heart skipped a beat when whatever it was appeared right next to her without ever appearing on her radar. Her eyes grew wide when its own aura overpowered hers by nearly five-fold.

"Hello, little Gaz." a slimy voice hissed in her ear. She shivered, and turned quickly to find out the identity of her prowler.

No one was there. She turned around and around, looking everywhere, but nothing was there. Shivering again, she continued on as if nothing had happened.

**Zim's Base, Roughly the Same Time Dib Awoke**

Zim, on the other hand, had awoken in his own base, on the upper level on his couch. He blinked, and then clutched his head, moaning softly. He sat up gingerly and glanced around his house. Everything appeared to be in order, except...

He heard a soft whimpering coming from the kitchen. He got off the couch and walked in, looking everywhere for the source of the sound. Finally, her heard a gasp and a mad shuffling, and turned his head in the direction of the corner between the end of the counter and the corner of the kitchen. Gir was curled up in a ball, as tight as he could go, in the corner, staring up at Zim with worried and frightened eyes. As soon as he saw Zim start to come over to him, he whimpered again and turned to the wall, trying to claw a way out of his situation.

"Gir! What are you doing? What's even more wrong with you?" Zim spat, antennae flattening against his head.

"I want Master back! You're too scary to be Master! WAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! I want tacos! Master would get me tacos!" Gir screamed, clawing more desperately at the wall.

Zim strode over and picked up Gir by the shoulders, turning him around to face him. "Gir! Can't you see? It's me..." he saw that Gir was refusing to look him in the eyes, instead resorting to closing and covering them, muttering something about the Crazy Taco Man.

Zim gently put Gir down, whence he ran to the toilet and flushed himself down to the lab. Zim figure he hadn't done that in the first place because he was too stupid, but he needed to find something to get Gir to face him so he could explain himself. He suddenly got an idea, and found a mirror quickly, where he took out a fresh pair of human contacts and gently put them in his eyes. He stood back to admire himself before hearing a noise all around him. It was in a strange language he'd never heard before in all his days, even in the Irken Language Download section of Military school.

"_Harasha...shanu ri nee-to? ...Kyuna shai nu..._" a light and airy voice whispered, almost hissing softly. Zim couldn't hear all of it, but he could make out some of it.

Another voice, more gruff, whispered, "_Su, shaina shee...kyunta cyuri_." They fell silent after this.

Zim shook his head, realizing that the voices were gone along with whatever had been in the room. He then felt an overwhelming urge to do something different, and then his eyes froze as something cold and hard, like metal, slithered up to his antennae, whispering in it. Zim's eyes grew dull and glazed over for half a second, and then snapped back into place. He shook himself off and glanced around the kitchen. Nothing and nobody there. Still, the door seemed to call to him...

Gir could wait. There was something he really wanted and needed to do suddenly. Grinning at the crazy thought, he ran out of his house.

**An Hour Later, in the Hospital**

Dib was silently suffering through his new wounds Gaz had so lovingly given him when a darkened figure walked into the room, something large in their hands. It was now getting close to evening and closing time for Visitors, so Dib briefly wondered how this person had gotten in. His wonder turned to panic when he realized that one, it wasn't a person; and two, who exactly it was.

It was Zim.

Dib's eyes went wide and he attempted to struggle out of his bed, but the movement was too painful. He couldn't help but let out a sharp gasp before trying to cover it with a cough. Zim rushed over to his side, and Dib tried to reach up a hand to punch him before stopping dead in his tracks.

Wait, was that..._concern_ across Zim's face? And were those flowers in his hands?! Both, as Dib looked again, were true. And, as he looked, he noticed Zim's uniform had changed back to normal.

Zim turned sympathetically to Dib asked kindly, "Are you alright? I...brought you flowers to try and help you feel better. I observed the other visitors doing this, and I figured..." he trailed off.

Dib could only stare. Finally, he snapped out of it and glared up at Zim. "Alright, Zim," he growled, "I know what you're up to, putting on that goody-two-shoes act. You aren't fooling anyone, least of all me. So cut the fake sympathy and tell me why you're really here!"

Zim sighed and found a vase to put the flowers in, tossing out the others that had somehow been placed there earlier. "Alright; you caught me. I am truly concerned about your health, but I mainly came in here for another reason," here he turned to Dib and asked, looking very confused, "What did I do last night? I was hoping that you knew, as my memory's a blank."

Dib was about to come back with a smart response when his mind forced him to think about this rationally. He had slammed Zim into an electric cable, but surely his Pak would've overcome it. Unless...Dib looked up at Zim again, his disguised eyes looking for answers. Dib could've cheered with joy had he not been in bandages.

The Zim he had known was gone! The Shock must've overwritten his personality, causing a more recessive one to come in. Perhaps Irkens were more human than they realized...

Dib grinned and asked, "So, you really don't remember anything?" To this, he received a shaking head. "Well, Dire did something to you..."

"Dire? The blue-eyed Irken?" Zim asked abruptly.

"Yeah, well, anyway, he did something weird to your Pak..." Dib began, and told him the tale as clearly as he could remember it. At the end of it, Zim looked very down-trodden.

"I...I see. Well, I must be off-" he stood up and brushed off his uniform, and then took in a deep breath and struggled out, "A-and...I...I...I apologizzzze..." he grit his teeth at this part, still apparently struggling with his inner pride.

Dib tried not to laugh or cheer in triumph. "It's...okay, I guess. But if you try anything, space-boy, I'll be there to stop you again, alright?"

"There's nothing to worry about. I've changed, hopefully for the better." Zim said with a smile, and left the room just as the nurse walked in to take him out.

Dib smiled after his once-enemy left the room. Perhaps things would be safe for a while. He had saved the world again. Now, if only to capture Zim and take him...

But Dib felt almost...a kind of tingling sadness at the thought of Zim being taken away. What was that? He shook his head.

Had to remember why Zim was the enemy. Even if he was acting good for now.

**Later That Night, in Zim's Base**

Gir had awoken before anyone after the fight, and immediately knew his duties. He needed to get Master home, and alert someone about Dib's condition. Well, he finally nixed the last part, because he was crying very hard as his instincts told him to just leave Zim there and run away. But, again, something else might have been helping Gir along.

Or, in this case, it might have only made things worse.

Gir was now too short to carry his master, so he ran outside and grabbed the Voot Cruiser, shoved the Taco Man out (with a lot of regret), somehow got it inside (don't ask. It's Gir.), and dragged his Master into the ship, immediately forgetting about Dib and instead resorting to just getting Zim home and safe, despite how crazy he had been acting.

It came as no surprise to Gir when Zim had awoken and still had the Crazy Eyes, but his Master's actions were strange. He was not himself…but not in the way Gir had seen that night. After fleeing and expecting the worst, and hiding several hours in the lab, Gir finally crawled out and grew bored with waiting for Zim to hunt him down, and instead remembered that he was going to make more waffles for the day. Grinning, he had skipped back up into the kitchen, only to find…

Zim waiting for him.

Zim, with the human contacts and normal Invader uniform; Zim, with the happy grin and bag that read, "Eat at Crazy Tacos! It'll blow your mind…Literally!"

Not the Zim that Gir had once loved, or the Zim that he had feared. This Zim was…

"MAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTTTEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRR!" Gir screamed, flying into Zim with a sudden burst from his rocket feet. His arms wrapped around Zim's chest, embracing him tightly. Gir's antennae picked up a strange noise, and he turned up, a flicker of worry before he found out the source of the sound.

Zim was laughing. Happily.

"Gir! It's good to see you! I'm so sorry for being so scary earlier; I haven't found a way to get rid of those scary eyes, so I'll just keep these contacts in for now, okay?" Zim asked empathetically.

Gir nodded rapidly, and began to drool as the smell of tacos hit him like a wave. He scrambled up Zim's chest and attempted to crawl across his arm to the tacos.

Zim laughed again, and placed the bag on the counter, whence Gir hugged the bag and looked up at his master, tears appearing in his eyes.

"Oh Master…I…I…I LURVE YOU!" Gir cried.

"Ah, well, you said that I would bring you tacos if I truly were your Master, so I just happened to pass by the Crazy Taco on the way beck from my trip to visit Dib, and…" Zim didn't finish, seeing as Gir had already begun to dig in. He chuckled, and reached into the cupboard above the sink for the special soap that Irkens used to clean themselves.

Gir turned to glance at Zim again, and noticed he was scrubbing a funny-looking substance off of his hands and one of his spider legs. It looked thick and goopy, and some of it had already dried on his gloves.

"Hey Master…What's that?" gir asked innocently, before taking another bite of his taco.

"Oh, just some grease from the bag. It doesn't scrub off very well, unfortunately…" Zim replied, and Gir went back to noisily munching on his snack.

"Gir." Zim said a few minutes later. Gir looked up, about to finish the third-to-last taco.

"Yeeeeessss Masterrrrr?" Gir asked.

"How did you get me home? Did you carry me?"

"Nooooo, 'cause you're too big for that." Gir giggled at this, and continued, turning back around, "I got you home in the pretty ship."

Zim stood silently, thoughts etching across his brain that had never officially occurred to him before.

Gir's antennae picked up on a barely audible frequency suddenly. It seemed to radiate throughout the room, but Gir could only make out a few words.

"_Shina…feru Jeer…_" And then it was gone, dropped off of his range of hearing. He ignored it.

"Gir, I'm going down into the base for a while. Watch your show, or something like that, alright?" Zim said, turned, and dropped down through the wastebucket.

Gir happily munched away, oblivious to the sudden chill in the room.

**Later**

As Dib recovered during the week, he considered the conversation again and again. No matter what, he couldn't shake the feeling that some little part of Zim might still be there in the new vessel, waiting to strike...However, it made sense to him that Zim had truly changed. Pak's used electricity to run, an everlasting battery and memory running the Irken's lives. But fear still gripped him, and he made a vow to stay on alert at all times until Zim was handed over to the authorities. He was torn between trusting Zim and not trusting him, especially after what Evil Zim had said during their fight...

_"Who's going to protect your sister, Dib?"_

The way Zim looked so...triumphant, and evil thoughts had glittered behind those eyes...Dib shivered violently at the memory. He did not want that son-of-a-gun alien going anywhere near Gaz. Even the good side of Zim.

Dib rarely saw or heard Gaz express any concern over his well-being, but deep down, Dib cared deeply for his sister. He knew that their father would sometimes stare at her, remembering their mother, who's image was forever embedded in Gaz. dib could not let anything happen to his sister, mainly because he knew it would tear what little was left of their family.

And because he knew she'd come back from the afterlife and kick his ass if he actually _let_ anything happen to her.

...

Gaz had decided not to tell Dib about the voice she'd heard, as it might lead to thoughts that she couldn't take care of herself. It just that...the thing had caught her by surprise, that's all. She could've easily wiped its existence from this planet had she'd seen it coming, which she normally did. She erased the smudge of fear in its existence, and went on with her life.

When she visited Dib a few days after the first visit, all she heard was his analysis of Zim's curious behavior.

So what if he was acting different? Took the alien long enough to realize that it was hopeless to try and take over this pathetic planet. Perhaps he'd stop bothering them now, and Dib could go back to his "normal" thing of investigating other...paranormal things. It had been too long since Dib was looking into other fields of the paranormal besides Zim.

During the second visit, she'd noticed cards from other people, but they read things like, "Your Big head should go 'splode!" and "Have they replaced your head yet?" among other insulting things. A flicker of anger arose in Gaz, but she quickly extinguished it and snorted in a cruel way, much to Dib's embarrassment. She was not supposed to care for him; she had an image to keep up, you know.

It angered her when Dib mentioned keeping a closer eye on her, just because he didn't trust Zim. Who did he think she was, some poor, helpless little girl?

"No, Dib. I will not have you watching my every move like some kind of damn spy, alright? I can kick that piece of crap's ass any day, even with my hands tied. So don't you even think for a MINUTE that you need to be dogging me even more, Dib, or so help me-!" she stood up abruptly, eyes glaring through narrowed slits.

"Gaz! I-I meant to say...I mean, Well, I meh...I'm..." Dib struggled, but saw that the argument was NOT going to turn in his favor. Conveniently, the famous song "Every Breath You Take" by The Police was playing at the time.

"Good, because you know what people would start saying if the thought I actually liked you as a brother, Dib. They would think I was soft. And if people think I'm soft, they start treating me like they treat you. I WILL NOT let that happen, got it?" Gaz growled, pointing a finger at him accusingly.

"Y-yes Gaz."

"Good." she turned and grabbed the end of the Knock-Out Juice pump, and whipped around to fast for Dib to stop her, about to jab it into Dib's throat to knock him out, when there was a rush of air and the curtains suddenly billowed with a delayed force.

She felt something close to her, grabbing the wrist that held the tube, and the other hand wrapping around her other shoulder, holding her back with amazing and seemingly effortless strength.

The same cold feeling came over her, the same feeling when...

"Gaz-human! What are you doing to Diiiiiib?!" a familiar voice cried dramatically.

Gaz slowly turned her head, anger building up that she was even close to the green idiot. "Zim...I'm warning you...Get away from me, or I'll rip your appendages off..."

Zim turned to look down at her, being almost a good half foot taller than her. "But...Gaz! You can't put the Dib out! I was going to say hi..." at this, he seemed to grow a pouting look, loosening his grip on Gaz and shuffling backwards slightly.

Gaz rolled her eyes and jerked herself away from him. Zim grinned childishly and waved at Dib, who was now fully amazed. Gaz angrily threw the tube down and stormed out, mumbling incoherent things under her breath.

Zim and Dib watched her leave, and then Zim made a very observant comment. "It appears we are all changing. I hope it is not my fault."

Dib had noticed it too. Gaz had suddenly become (if it was possible) more withdrawn and angrier, Zim had become happier and more caring, and Dib himself had become calmer about his studies, but more worried about the present situation of his friends and family. Was this just a change they were bound to all go through? Or was there some deep rift in reality, causing a sudden and violent turn for the worse or better?

More importantly, when was it going to end and things would go back to the way they had always been, only...hopefully...better?

**In Zim's Basement, Late That Night**

"Master?" Gir's voice echoed in the dark and roomy place. Zim jumped slightly, but didn't turn around from whatever he was working on.

"Yes, Gir?" Zim's voice growled slightly, hating to have been interrupted.

"Well, I was just 'a wonderin'...Are you OK? 'Cuz you've been acting kinda funny lately...and your eyes are still diff'rent, seein' as you still gottawear those contacts…" Gir said quietly, standing and waiting in the doorway still, afraid to enter the room.

If Gir had been less inept, he would've felt a very strong but brief spike or hatred emitting from his master. But Zim just swiveled around in his chair to face Gir, a smile on his face.

"Tsk tsk Gir! You should know better than to worry about me! It's you I'm worried about..." he said, putting up a fist to his head to support it as he leaned to one side slightly.

"Really master?" Gir's eyes shone bright and he flew to him, wrapping his arms around Zim and squeezing him into a tight hug. Zim grinned and patted Gir's head.

"Yes, I have. You've been worrying me, running away when I come near as if..."Zim said, and then his eyes grew worrisome. "Are you afraid of me, Gir? Becuase you shouldn't be. There's nothing to fear from me..."

"Weeeeell, you have been actin' really nice 'ta me and Dib now, since ya been visiting him…But your eyes are still gunna scare me unless you change 'em, and I don't like the way you treated me the other night when-" Gir started off into a ramble, but Zim interrupted him.

"I know, I know. But that's all behind us now. Come here Gir, and let me-" Zim's arms wrapped around his little robot, and Gir, too caught up in the moment, closed his aqua eyes. Unfortunately, he did not see a long, sharp-looking shadow reaching up behind him, or the extremely nasty grin creasing across Zim's face now, or the blueprints labeled "GIR REDESIGN" on Zim's desk...

"Give you a big hug." Zim finished, and Gir let out a huge smile before his world went black.

END CHAPTER SEVEN

OH NO! Is Zim good...or evil? Who are those voices, and what language are they speaking? Who spoke to Gaz in such a creepy way? Why did I have to work until closing time at the store? All these questions will be answered later...but not the last one. ;.;

I'm sorry the characters are a little OOC, but i was struggling to think of how they would react to this kind of a change and it was HARD. they've never experienced true evil or a kind and happy Zim. And remember- they've all had "scared" moments, even Gaz. (though I forget where.)

And I'm sorry about the scene in the hospital!! I didn't realize what I was typing until I started...it's so ZADR-ish...WHICH HAS NO PLACE IN THIS STORY! I banish thee, o strange fangirl pairing! -points- Leave now or so help me...! -somehow makes all 16 Nightmares appear from other story-

Nightmares: What the f-ck are we doing here?!

-works anyway; ZADR is now banished and Nightmares go back, grumbling what sounds like death wishes-

Actually, what I was aiming for was ZADF, which I like a lot. Hey, those can't work without each other. (just look at Mopiness of Doom. Hey- I consider it cannon.) They prefer the term 'respect' over 'friend', but i like friendship better. sounds nicer. :3 -is stabbed by Dib and Zim-

Both: Rabid fangirls...T.T

Me: -arises from the dead- Hey! I'm no ORDINARY rabid fangirl- I'm the Talking Absol! -strikes a pose-

the cast of Zim ish not own-ed by me. Nither does the song which this chapter is based off of. Only Dire belongith to me. Happy Zim belongs to dopers. XD So there!

Stay tuned for the next late-ish chapter of...There's Always a Light in the Darkness.

-waits a beat-

IT'S NEVER WHAT YOU THINK IT IS!! -runs away, laughing insanely-


	8. All You Need is Love

There's Always a Light in the Darkness

Or, _the Tale of the Logical_

By: The Talking Absol

Chapter Eight: All You Need is Love

Gir was abruptly aware that he was awake again. Everything was still black, but he could hear Zim moving around in what sounded like his lab, messing with instruments and opening and closing drawers. Finally, Gir's inner screen turned on, and he noticed it looked...cleaner; more fresh and crisp, with lots of new little buttons and things to do. His memory also felt bigger, with lots of empty space to fill with TV shows and games. Gir himself even felt better, like he was high on sugar and strong as ten of those weird bulgy people on the throwing and pulling show.

But still, why had Master knocked him out? Perhaps, deep inside of this kind-hearted shell, the scary Zim still remained, waiting to strike. The thought scared Gir- he knew that whatever else his master was, he was not that _thing_ Gir had encountered in the mall. That monster was pure evil, with the smarts to take over the world and a blackened heart.

But, Zim had looked so happy...Master wouldn't deceive him, would he? After all, he brought Gir tacos, and the old AND the scary Zim wouldn't do that. So why had he knocked Gir out? And why did Gir feel different? Every time Zim would look or act scary, he'd suddenly be nice and get on Gir's happy side. What was going on?

Gir slowly opened one cylinder eye, hoping not to catch his master's attention. Zim's back was to Gir at the moment, messing with a gismo. Both eyes opened, and Gir tried to quietly move off the table he was laying on. Unfortunately, "quietly" for Gir is not the same as a normal quiet.

Zim heard whining and clattering coming from behind him, and several screams of anguish. He turned, halfway expecting something horrible to be happening to Gir. Of course, being strapped to an operating table was pretty horrible for Gir, especially since he wasn't used to-

"Gir! It's alright, it's alright! Calm down, for Irk's sake!" Zim cried, rushing to Gir's side and trying to hold Gir's struggling form still. Gir cried harder.

"Noooooooo, what did you do to me, Master? WHY DID YOU BETRAY ME?!" Gir found himself screaming. That was strange; he wouldn't have normally made such an acute statement. Why...?

Zim finally rested his hand on Gir's shoulder. "It's fine, Gir! Just listen, okay? And then...I don't know, you can go and make waffles or something."

Gir finally began to stop writhing, and stared up at Zim with cautious eyes. Zim sighed, and then grew happy as he began to explain.

"When I heard that you couldn't carry me anymore, it was the first time that I'd realized I had grown, but you hadn't. I just grew so used to being around you that I forgot our size difference, and there was no need for that kind of situation until now." Zim began to pace back and forth, still keeping his eyes locked on Gir's. He continued, "So, I decided that you needed a major upgrade in order to help our mission. I designed a new body, a bigger and better mind, and more...thingies to help us out."

Zim waved his hand and stopped pacing. Gir blinked at him.

"Then why didn't you tell meeeeeee?" Gir whined, leaning his head forward a bit.

"I didn't tell you because I figured you wouldn't want it, but you must understand Gir- It was necessary. This is actually the last upgrade you'll need for a while, so I figured I'd get it all done in one swoop." Zim stated, coughing slightly into his hand. He finished, "Well, let's see how you like your new look and gadgets, shall we?"

He pressed a button on the table, and the straps around Gir withdrew. Gir sat up, and observed himself as best he could. As far as he could tell, he looked exactly the same, except...

"I'm big, like a monkey!" Gir cried happily. It was true- his shell was the same color but everything about him was bigger. He still only came up to Zim's waist, but he could certainly carry Zim anywhere now. Gir giggled, wigging his cone-shaped feet.

Zim carried on about Gir's updates, but Gir wasn't listening. "I gave you a much bigger memory, one that you'll probably fill up in only a few days knowing you, a bigger processor, hard drive, I gave you an accurate map of this world and every city, an up-to-date navigator, and lots of defense weapons to defend the base." He finally noticed Gir wasn't listening, and sighed, asking, "Do you like it, Gir?"

Gir heard him, and turned to face Zim, a big grin on his face. Suddenly, his jet rocket feet turned on and he flew at Zim, crashing into him, grabbing him under the armpits, and carrying him through the base. Zim screamed and flailed, but finally got over the initial shock and began to laugh as Gir whirled and flew through the air.

"Can I take that as a yes?" Zim yelled over the roar of air and rockets. Gir flew in circles around the Communications center until he spotted something of interest on one of the desks and stopped, dropping Zim and flying over to this thing. Zim got up, shaking himself and brushing off the dust and smoke. Gir let out a squeal of happiness when he saw what the thing was, and Zim looked up and grinned.

"I also re-made your suit, because I know you liked it, so..." Zim started, and watched as Gir danced with his empty disguise suit. Abruptly, the Communications screen beeped with an incoming message.

The computer said, surprised, "An..._incoming_ message? From the Massive?"

Zim and Gir paused, both suspecting what this meant. Zim swiftly grew wide-eyed and gasped, flailing about to make everything look a bit neater before pressing a button on the control desk and watching as the screen came on.

What appeared on the screen were two more Irkens, but they were, even without the giant screen, huge compared to Zim. Just by the looks of them, they easily towered to about six foot or more. One had red eyes like Zim used to have, except fiercer and more determined, and he had strange armor on. Around his chest was a ball, with three grey, triangle-shaped collars sticking out of it (one was directly around his skinny neck), and on the back of that was his giant Pak. Connected and protecting his shoulders were two tear-shaped pieces, and on his two-fingered hands were two large grey and white cylinders that covered his arms and wrists almost to the elbow. Below the circle armor were three grey rings that wrapped around his exposed, skinny mid-section until one circle connected to a skirt-like piece of armor that ran from his waist to his feet, which were off the ground, levitated by an unseen force.

The other Irken had the exact same armor on, but it was a mix of light purple and dark purple. His eyes were dark purple, but they seemed more easy and laid-back. He had a much more goofy look about him, but he still looked official and like he knew he was in charge. Also, he had a bag of what appeared to be chips in one hand, and was stuffing them into his mouth while watching the screen.

Zim went into a stiff position, holding his hand to his head in a salute. He bowed his head and wiggled his antennae in greeting. He looked up again and saluted, and then relaxed a bit and waited for the Irkens to speak. Gir simply watched the screen.

"Zim! We picked up on a distress call a few days ago and we wanted to...erm...make sure you were okay." the red one said unsurely.

"Actually, it was about a week and a half ago..." Zim corrected innocently.

"You DAAAAAAAARE to correct your Tallest?" the red one started with a sharp undertone.

"I'm sorry! It was not my place." Zim apologized, clasping his hands and bowing.

The Tallest looked taken aback for a moment, and glanced at each other. Finally, the purple one swallowed his chips and turned back to Zim.

"Eh, we had an Irken Scientist run away from the lab a while ago, saying he was going after you. Did he ever...?" the purple one asked, avoiding the previous subject.

"The Scientist Dire?" Zim asked, looking up. He smiled nicely. "I took care of him."

"Um...Okay. Just wanted to make sure." the red one said quickly, and began to move to cut the transmission.

Zim rushed, "I'll be sure to call you next time, Tallest Red and Purple! I'll take over this planet even if-" he was cut off when they turned the transmission off.

Red turned to Purple. "We had no info on that Dire guy, other than he was a Scientist with weird powers and strange eyes." He turned to look at one of the Irkens at the Control Desk, demanding, "Make sure Zim doesn't leave Earth!"

"Why are you doing that? And what was up with his robot?" Purple asked Red, looking at him strangely and opening another bag of chips.

"I...don't know. I hate Zim, but if what Dire said was true, then we just might have a threat from Zim. Just look at the robot." Red's eyes narrowed slightly. "No normal Irken could've done that kind of a redesign on a SIR unit. Not one without a massive extent of knowledge that an Invader shouldn't have."

"But...Zim was a scientist! Maybe he still has some blueprints or something. And why are you worrying about him? He's an idiot." Purple grumbled, snacking loudly.

"Because SIR unit blueprints were burned in order to prevent anyone from taking them. Only a very smart Irken, even smarter than us, could figure them out now and upgrade one like that, the messed up one nonetheless! Even if Zim _or_ Dire did that, we have threat coming from Earth now." Red growled, and Purple felt a deep kind of uneasiness, like he'd heard or seen this before.

**Back on Earth**

Zim sighed unhappily, wearily turned, and headed back out and towards the way out of the base. He wanted to impress his Tallest so badly, but he suspected it was a useless effort by this point. Unless he took over the planet, they might never be impressed with him.

Alright, he had lied to the Dib about one thing- he was still going to try and take over the Earth, but it was only to attract his Tallest's attention. He was going to do it quickly and forcefully, so the humans wouldn't have time to react. Not that they probably would react anyway, but the Dib was still a slight problem with this plan, along with his sister.

Zim had a plan, but it would take months to get it done, and it meant NOTHING getting in his way. He turned to Gir, who was trying to tie his disguise around his neck like a cape.

"Gir! Come with me to the training room. I have one little test for you to take." Zim said, motioning for Gir to follow Zim into a nearby elevator. Gir followed him, running and jumping and screaming that he was Super-Banana now. They went into the tube and disappeared down.

**Skool, the Next Day**

The three kids of the "rejects" group (Zim, Dib, and Gaz) sat together at lunch again. Things had calmed down between Dib and Zim since the incident, and Zim was re-learning how to act like his old self in front of the regular students as to not upset the balance or make the other kids stare at him. So, every other day, Dib and he would throw things from their lunch at each other, but if you looked closely they were grinning with excitement and fun.

The name-calling had stopped abruptly, but Zim or Dib would throw one at each other just for fun once in a while. And to their Physics teacher's gratitude, an entire period went without an argument once. In fact, the two previous enemies had begun to work together, but it was only to address an occasional question to each other. Dib was still rather cold to Zim, but he couldn't help but begin to warm up slowly to the new Zim, who, despite his efforts, was still a bit egotistical but mostly innocent, fun-loving, and less loud.

Today, it was quiet at their table. Zim was lost in thought, staring at his food and poking it with his fork. Dib was quickly altering between shoving in his food and taking notes about the Bigfoot child he'd supposedly seen earlier that day. Gaz sat next to him, playing her game and occasionally taking a bite of her sandwich.

Suddenly, a pea hit Gaz's Gameslave. It bounced off and rolled a little ways away. One eye rolled upwards to glance around the table. Zim was still staring at his food, poking his spoon through his mashed potatoes absently. Dib was still preoccupied with his notes.

Wait...Zim with a spoon...and he was the only one who had peas on his plate anyway. Gaz let out a growl and withdrew further from him.

Another pea sailed through the air, this time going over her Gameslave and into her lap. Both eyes flicked up to glare at Zim, but he was still staring at his food. He even let out a sigh to emphasize how bored he was. He should have known better.

She let her attention wander back to her Gameslave, but she made sure to go through a slow part just in case...

One final pea flew at her, this time at her face. She saw it in time and _glared_. The pea burst into flames and disappeared in the air, leaving a small trail of ashes. Taking a second to pause her precious game, she leaned forward and grabbed Zim by his collar, taking him by surprise.

"G-Gaz!" Zim stammered. Some distant part of him, the part that wasn't terrified out of his life, noticed how very close their faces were.

_'This is awkward..._' some very distant thought mumbled. It quickly grew into a large thought, taking place next to oh-my-irk-that-was-a-mistake and several others.

"WHAT kind of sick game are you playing Zim? Because I want to know so I can decide if I want to turn you into muck or turn you into a vegetable, with all your limbs ripped off?" Gaz hissed, eyes boring into his.

Zim's arms flailed, but the underlying thought from before took him over. As a result, some deep instinct in him made him feel...weird. His squeedly-spooch contorted into knots, his throat closed in on him, and his mind went blank. His arms flopped uselessly to his side, and he blushed. The blushing was the funniest part, because his cheeks didn't turn pink, but instead they turned an even deeper shade of green.

Dib had paused to look at the action going on, and took note of Zim's face-change. He felt really, really worried and possibly angry.

_'No way, you sick space-boy. You aren't going to lay a finger on my sister!_' Dib concluded, if his instincts were right. Zim WOULD NOT touch Gaz or grow close to her- Dib would make sure of that. Even if Zim played the nice guy for now, Dib didn't trust him to keep it up for long before his Pak restored whatever Dire had made Zim.

"Guh...uh...eh..." Zim said. Gaz growled and shoved him back, giving up hope. She hadn't noticed his change, or his sudden change in attitude. She was just sickened by his presence so much she couldn't stand him. She resumed her game and walked off.

Zim immediately woke up out of his spell, shaking his head so hard his wig almost fell off. He turned and noticed Dib's glare.

"Um...I'm sorry?" Zim offered.

"Let me make this clear, Zim." Dib said icily, scooting to face Zim directly. Zim gulped as Dib continued, "You make one wrong move against my sister, and you'll be at Area 51 faster than you can say 'alien.' You can bet on that, space-boy." With that said, he slid out of his seat and went to his next class.

Zim sat there, bewildered beyond belief. Zim hadn't recognized this feeling before. Out of all of the ones he'd encountered that Irkens weren't supposed to have (fear, bliss, sadness, regret), this one was certainly the strangest.

And it was just so...out of the blue. Why hadn't he noticed Gaz's pretty hazel eyes before, or how her hair flowed so smoothly around her heart-shaped face. He was lost in la-la land until the bell awoke him from his thoughts, making him jump but still walk unsteadily into his next class.

**Later, In Zim's Base**

Zim stared at his blank computer screen. It stared back, though not in the same way.

"Erm...Zim." the computer started. Zim didn't respond, so the computer tried again, "Zi-im. What are you thiiiiinking..."

Still no response. The computer cried desperately, "What about your new evil plan? What about that, with the Tallest calling and all? What about the stuff you were just working on?"

Zim's eyes popped out of their daze. "Huh? Oh. Computer," he said, growing more relaxed, "Define...Love."

There was a stunned silence, and then images began to fill the screen; sickening images of teens holding hands and birds chirping and some half-naked baby in a loincloth flying around.

"Love." The computer stated, though there was a nervous undertone to it, "Love is defined as a powerful emotion felt for another person manifesting itself in deep affection, devotion, or desire."

Zim was silent, his eyes elsewhere. If one looked closely, they would see something, like inspiration, moving around in those eyes.

"Irkens are not capable of love. I know that. But suppose...If one's emotional control were broken...say due to a...'power surge'...would it be possible?" Zim asked, not looking at the computer. The computer, if it was possible, grew both worried and excited at the same time.

"Uh...I suppose. Why? Do you think you have some kind of a defect?" the computer asked, adding "A new one?" under its tone.

"The...Gaz-human. She is beginning to...intrigue me. I find myself growing more curious about her power and her past- I want to know more about her, because..." Zim trailed off. He didn't really know the right word for it, but "love" wasn't quite it. Not yet, anyway...

Gir had bounced down to the lab in his new costume, wanting to tell Zim his waffles were ready. He was skipping towards Zim when he heard the conversation, and had paused in the doorway to listen in. He stifled a giggle, but Zim's antennae perked at the sound anyway, and Zim turned to face his robot.

"What's so funny, Gir?" Zim asked with an amused smile.

Gir was silent, but was holding back a mad round of giggles. Finally, he exploded, "I'M A COOKIE MONSTER, AND I'M GUNNA EAT ME SOME BACON!" he added after this, a lot quieter, "And you have a crush on Gaz..."

"A WHAT?" Zim cried, standing up. His antennae drooped, and his eyes grew wide, breath rapid in his chest.

"Do you liiiike seeing Gaz?" Gir asked, giggling. Zim blinked, and shrugged, antennae flicking.

"I...guess so..." Zim said.

"Do you liiiiiike talking to Gaz?" Gir asked, eyes growing wide.

"As long as she doesn't beat me up, which happens most of the time." Zim grumbled, growing irritated that he was being pestered with questions on a tough subject. Especially since he didn't really know the answers.

"Do you liiiiiike Gaz?" Gir asked, tongue sticking out of his mouth.

"Uh...erm...I...I..." Zim stumbled, taken aback suddenly. He really didn't know the answer to that one, though a light blush came across his face, making his face greener again.

"Do you liiiiiiike waffles? 'Cause I made some, just for you! With lots of looooove, and sooooap, and piiiiizza, and...and..." Gir's face furrowed in confusion. He couldn't remember what else he'd put in the waffles. He knew the basic recipe, but he couldn't remember what he'd added to make it "full of sugar and spice and puppy dog tails".

Zim grinned, changing the subject to avoid this conversation. "Of course! I'll eat your waffles and then we'll..." his face turned into a grin, "Watch Scary Monkey, okay?"

The thing that happened next would've scared the living shit out of anyone that was unprepared. The lights flashed out, turning the power in the entire neighborhood off briefly before all of it came flashing back on.

Zim was still grinning as it came back on. Gir was nowhere in sight.

"Good, Gir. Good boy. Let's see those...Waffles."

"VOICE RECOGNITION CONFIRMED AS MASTER. POWERING DOWN." a low-toned, dark robotic voice said from the darkness. Two large, glowing red eyes slowly turned their familiar cyan-blue, and the eyes suddenly blinked out and disappeared. Zim took the elevator up to the main floor, a confident smile still on his face.

END CHAPTER EIGHT

The fork-spoon thing was on purpose. He changed his utensils to arm his weapons. 8D

I had to look up "Love" in my century-old dictionary. XD And "desire" was preceded by "sexual", but they don't have that. They live in the CARTOON WORLDS for goodness sake! They get their babies by stork. That and the fact...erm...-blushes madly- I support the fact that Zim...wouldn't be able to...even if he did live in a "real" world...Cause he was grown in a tube...and Natural Selection and all that...

I am having no inspiration for the next couple chapter before the end of Part Two, with many exciting events. In all of the ZAGR i've read, Zim usually a.- gets Gaz preggers and then runs off to join the Irken Armada, or b.- gets Gaz preggers and they end up happily ever after. So, I need you, the readers, to find me some stuff to get inspired by! DOES NOT have to be ZAGR. It can be ZATR, but that's as far as I'll go. and I would prefer it to be complete, 'cause it's easier to get the whole story that way instead of something half-completed but good.

And of course Dib would be protective of Gaz! Who wouldn't, especially since Zim sounded so...child-molester-ish when he was creepy? –shivers-

The song from the chapter title belongs to the Beatles. Zim and co. don't belong to me, though their Logical designs do. Dire also belongs to me, so there!


	9. My Hero

There's Always a Light in the Darkness

or_, the Tale of the Logical_

By: The Talking Absol

Chapter Nine: My Hero

Gaz glared at Zim from across the lunch table. He was staring at her again, but with that "far away" look in his eyes. His hands supported his head, holding it up from the table by his elbows. Dib had begun to glare pointedly at him, but Zim never noticed.

This had been going on for days now, and it was getting really annoying. She had no idea why he was doing it, but it was really idiotic of him and she was considering sending him into an everlasting nightmare. Also, it didn't help that the other girls had noticed his staring, and it caused a whole new wave of nasty rumors to spread. Not that Gaz really cared (or should've, in her opinion) but she still felt a small twinge of turmoil emotion over this. She continued to ignore it, however, and instead concentrated on what horrible fate to send Zim into.

She supposed Zim was lucky, because the bell rang just as she had made a decision. Growling and grumbling under her breath, she tuned in her attention to her Gameslave, her only happiness now in killing Vampire Piggies. She shouldered her way past Zim, who appeared to stiffen at her touch, and moved on to her next class. She felt an abrupt twinge of sadistic pleasure at this power over him-- the power to make him scared and woozy at the same time. Gaz hated love herself, except her love of videogames and food, but she also loved power. And this kind of power was...fun, to say the least. She'd just toy with it a little; perhaps experiment with Zim's emotions--

No! Gaz shook her head roughly, making everyone around her scream with fright and duck, expecting fireballs to shoot from her head. Ignoring them, she strode on, re-thinking.

she shouldn't play with Zim, mainly because of the what if...

_What if..._

_What if...she started liking him?_

She couldn't risk it. Showing emotions like that was a sign of weakness, and weakness was bad, especially with her reputation. Damn.

Society was just too critical these days. All the better to stay away from it.

As she took her seat, she felt something in her pocket. Pausing her game, she curiously procured a crumpled scrap of paper. Unfurling it, she glanced at it before feeling anger arise in her cheeks.

It read, "Hello!" and then several space below it, with his traditional Irken mark, was "From, ZIM"

She glanced up and around her, and once sure no one had seen any of it, Gaz promptly crumpled it up again and ate it, chewing loudly before swallowing. She then resumed her game, barely listening to the droning teacher.

~~~Passing Period

Okay, she had thought the note was sad, but this?

Before she opened her locker, Gaz had smelt something wet and meaty emitting from that direction, and had noticed the kids steering clear of hers. Growling angrily, she thrust it open and found a tremendous T-one, raw and still squelching blood. A pink ribbon was crudely tied in a bow around it, with a note pinned to both the ribbon and the steak. The note read the same as before, but the addressor was now "Secret Admirer".

Letting out a tremendous growl of frustration now, she grabbed it and thrust it into the nearest trashcan, where it incinerated with a puff of smoke and fire. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air, and Gaz stomped away, he locker slamming shut with a loud "BANG!"

However, if one looked inside the trashcan (which no one did, for obvious reasons) they would've seen that the trashcan was lacking a burnt piece of paper, one that should've been still attached to the meat.

~~~After School

Gaz stormed home, a dark cloud following her and raining lightning upon all who approached. Hands in her pockets and eyes glaring at the ground, she looked like the epitome of anger. Even her brother cautiously walked along the opposite side of the street after his hair went into an afro from the shock.

She heard the familiar clap of footsteps behind her, and turned briefly before her stomach nearly upchucked and she whipped her head back around. There was a rumble, and the clash of electricity as lightning rained down upon the alien. She heard a girlish scream of pain, and _something_-

The pain pleased her, and she smiled as her thoughts rang with Zim's cry. She heard him crackle as his skin burnt off, but insistently followed her. She turned around, dark aura pulsing in every direction, rotting plants upon impact and turning the concrete black with age, the streets cracking and causing everyone to scream and crash.

"What is your PROBLEM?" she screamed, rage boiling, "are you so completely messed up that you're going to try that on me?! 'Cause I will tell you right now- RIGHT NOW ZIM!- that if you do, I will send you into a pit of darkness so deep that you will NEVER return!"

Zim blinked up at her pathetically, face a mix of confused and worry. Slowly, he got up on his feet, surrounded by silence and watchful eyes, and began to move past Gaz. His face was hidden, for his eyes stared deeply into the pavement, and he limped past Gaz, never making a sound.

Gaz let herself calm down, letting the power ebb away and return things to normal. The people looked at each other, and then drove or walked off, occasionally laughing or throwing things at Zim as he made his way home. She made a "hmph" noise, as if acknowledging her own win, and then turned and walked home, the sky above her clearing.

Idiotic alien...What did he have going on in that Pak of his?

~~~Later that Day

Gaz watched as Dib packed his equipment into a large duffle bag, being careful not to make things brake or smash into each other, even going so far as to wrap some of the more fragile things in tissue paper.

As he finished, she lackadaisically asked him, "Why are you getting along with him, and why did he let you in to his house?"

"I told you, Gaz; it's a Physics project. We both fail if we don't work together, and while I might've let it slip in the past..." he paused, and adjusted his glassed as he looked her in the eyes, "I honestly trust Zim now. I don't really know why, but I do. He's just got that...peaceful feeling around him. And besides, this is the first, no, second time he's invited me over. I can do all kinds of secret studies!"

"Yeah...he probably abducted your brain and vaporized it." Gaz looked up, pretending to be thoughtful, "If you ever had a brain."

"Ha ha, Gaz. Very funny." Dib growled icily. He zipped up his bag, unzipped it, checked it once more, and then zipped it up and put the strap over his shoulder.

"You have a problem." Gaz said pointedly.

"Thanks. I'll sew you in a few. Pizza's in the fridge, don't leave the house...the usual." Dib said, brotherly instinct taking over for and instant.

"Whatever." was Gaz's response before she got up and went for her Gameslave in the living room.

Dib smiled, knowing his sister's heart was in the right place, even if that place was cold and dark. He walked around and for the front door, going out into the cool night. He opened it again, poking his head in once more.

"And don't forget, the emergency numbers are-"

A large, hard object that might've been a brick flew and hit him square between the eyes, causing them to cross and for him to tumble backwards, feeling his world fade to dark briefly before it came swirling back. He stumbled away, teetering viciously, in the general direction of Zim's house.

The door closed of its own accord, and Gaz sat for a while, happily playing her Gameslave. Ever since the company had been put into new hands, they'd created the rechargeable Gameslave, which could play a lot longer than and ordinary one, and it could charge in only and hour and be ready for play for days on end. Gaz often lost track of how many hours she played it, only glancing at the Battery Bar once in a rare while, which ultimately lead to her untimely Gameslave "death."

Such, after only and hour, was one of those times. She felt a cry of disgust and distress leave her mouth as the screen blacked out. She plugged it in, and watched it for a millisecond before growing bored. She got up and thought about what to do. An evil, delicious thought crossed her mind, and her mouth twitched.

Why not go and ruin Dib and Zim's project? They both deserved it, and Zim' aught to be taught a lesson in messing with her. As for Dib...well, she needed _something_ to hurt him with. She let out a snort that might've been a laugh, and then went out into the night.

Walking calmly black after block, a plan formed in her mind. First, she'd sneak up and past the lawn gnomes, and then burst in, startling them both. Next, she beat them both up and then tear apart their project, but not before making them watch. And while they were crying, she'd walk back home. Perfect.

She felt a brief shiver run up her spine as a cold blast from out of nowhere hit her, slightly ruffling her hair and clothes. She grumbled and moved on, Zim's house now across the cul-de-sac from her. She planned on going straight across, but a figure in an alley only a few houses away caught her eye. A flash of red and green, and then the sound of something crumbling to the ground made her turn her head. She lowered it ever so slightly one way, and then moved towards the source, curiosity overtaking her.

"Zi-im? I know you're there..." When there was no response from around the corner, she grew angry and began to walk around it. "Come on out, you mmmhph!"

He mouth was covered by a cold, powerful hand before she could finish. It moved her head and slammed her up against the wall. Her hands gripped firmly upon the one holding her, and she quickly opened her eyes to glance at her attacker, pain throbbing through her head.

He stood still for a moment, green eyes eating her up. A cruel smile crossed his face.

"Hey there, pretty girl." he said smoothly.

She was frozen for a second, and then concentrated and sent a wave of shadow upon him. He flew back, and Gaz sucked in a huge breath before looking up to make sure he-

He was bent backwards, but then snapped forward and popped his neck, rolling his shoulders in recovery. "That was your best shot, m-m?"

Gaz was stunned. Her attack had just reflected off of him. This was not good.

He jumped at her, and she let out a loud, shrill scream before he covered her mouth and cornered her again. She pummeled him with her fists and feet, but it was like hitting a brick wall. He was completely solid.

"No one's gunna hear you, girl. So, feel free to scream." He grinned, and then his face transformed into shocked.

She struggled, but his grip was very powerful. He leaned in, putting his head in the crook of her neck and whispering something in a funny language. She felt his tongue slide out and lick her, and her stomach did a flip while her body shivered.

All hope was lost...no one would hear or care...

"Get away from her you BASTARD!"

Both figures looked up, astonished, but the man's face met with a downward punch that sent him flying backwards. Zim let his spiderlegs retract, eyes ablaze with hate. He caught Gaz as she stumbled, face turning to concern.

"Are you okay?" he asked sincerely. She was still shocked, but her shell immediately hid her fright.

"Of course I am! I coulda take the guy with one hand behind my back!" she insisted, flying out of his arms.

Dib came running up, and then spotted Gaz. "Gaz! We thought we heard something-"

"I had it under control." she retorted before he could finish, brushing the dust and shivers off. All three turned to look at the red-shirted man, who struggled to his feet, a black bruise already forming above his left eye.

"Asshole! What the fuck?" he shouted, as if surprised.

"That's my sister, you sick son of a bitch!" Dib cried, boiling.

"If you touch Gaz again, I'll kill you." Zim stated, and both siblings turned to look at him in surprise. He'd said it so...icily and coolly. As if there weren't even a second thought to it.

"Fuck you and your little whore!" the man hissed, and ran off, disappearing into the shadows.

There was a sullen silence between the three as Zim recovered, glancing at both of the siblings.

"What?" he asked numbly. Dib blinked harshly as Gaz ha-rumphed and began to stroll off.

"Wait, Gaz! You have a couple of questions to answer! Why were you out? What are you doing here? Is something wrong at home?" Dib followed her, pestering her with questions.

She whipped upon her heel, exploding, "Just leave me alone, okay?!" The two stared at each other in silence before Gaz turned and stormed off, hands around her arms.

Dib stood, not knowing what to do or say. Zim came up slowly behind him, a curious look on his face.

"Does that mean the Gaz is okay?" he asked innocently.

Dib bowed his head, and then turned and motioned for Zim to follow him back inside. "Come on. I've gotta go anyway."

END CHAPTER NINE

SO UNEVENTFUL. 80

This is what Gaz does when she gets bored. Gameslave is a pacifier to this addiction to destruction.

I thought up something that puts a whole new twist on this story! I'm soooooooo excited. It helped

this update.

Was MAJORLY inspired by Unlikely Hero by Invader Aqua. My idol. *bows*

Invader Zim belongs to Jhonen Vasquez and Nickelodeon, not me! The chapter title goes to the song "My Hero" by Foo Fighters. I'm a big fan, if you couldn't tell. ;)

The man in red, however, does. He's such an interesting character…


	10. Dream On

There's Always a Light in the Darkness  
Or, _The Tale of the Logical_  
By: The Talking Absol

Chapter Ten: Dream On

As soon as Dib was out of sight, Zim let out a heaving sigh. He turned back into his house, taking off his wig and running a hand over his antennae. That girl! She enchanted him so.

So tough and yet so...

He felt a longing, a deep-rooted actual _feeling_ for her. Pitiful human emotions. They made him lose his concentration.

He turned to Gir, who opened the door briefly and then closed it behind him.

"Computer! List off the movies you recommended. Gir, give me a short summary of each one." Zim commanded, pacing across his living room floor.

"Uh, okay. First is 'Princess Bride'."

"This girl is promised to this funny-looking guy but she gets captured by pirates and saved by a long-lost loooove..." Gir said childishly.

"Bah! Next one." Zim waved his hands.

The computer paused, and then continued, "Next is 'Roxanne'."

"This guy with a big nose-" Gir started, but Zim interrupted.

"That's enough info." He paused himself, putting his face in his hands. "What about that one with the title?"

"Uhhhhh...they all have titles." the computer pointed out.

"Oh, right. I meant the one with the Earth-funny title. The one I thought sounded good."

"'Say Anything?'"

"It's about this guy that falls for this girl, and there's a scene with a boombox..."

"Perfect! That's the one." Zim said, growing excited. He jumped up and over the couch, setting down on the cushions, whence Gir flew into the kitchen and threw three bags of Poop-corn into the microwave.

~~~Later

"NOOOOOO! You moronic hyuman! Stay with him!" Zim cried, clutching the pillow. Gir made a series of crying noises, and tears fell from his face in big drops.

"Awww, but Master! He loves her enough to let her go!" Gir cried.

Zim roughly shook his head. "No! They love each other! They need to be _together_..."

As the credits rolled, Zim recovered and looked up at his computer. " Computer! Download that song, ah..."

"In Your Eyes, Peter Gabriel."

"Yessss, that one. I have a plan!" Zim shot up from the couch, grabbing a few wires that were lying around and a few scraps of metal.

"Isn't that plagiarizing?" Gir asked, cocking his head to one side.

"Only if we get caught." Zim responded, throwing the bits into the sink. "Computer, build a...boombox."

"Processing...processing...PROCESSING!!!" the computer whirred like a giant engine, and a boombox with a CD inside appeared on the counter.

"Good, thank you." Zim smiled, and grabbed it, checking to make sure there were batteries inside. Upon a confirmation, he slid out into the night, humming. Gir silently got up and followed him, more out of curiosity than faith to his master.

~~~The Memebrane Household

Gaz kept to herself that night, right up until bedtime. Dib tried pestering her once or twice, but a punch to the face taught him _that_ lesson. She didn't want to think about earlier, or the fact that Zim, of all people, had saved her.

The thought disgusted her, but what made her shiver was that man's look when he grabbed her again.

Was it...recognition? A glimmer of a memory? She pushed those thoughts away, except for his face. As soon as she saw him again, she was going to rip him apart...

If she didn't kill Zim first. But that cause another storm of thoughts to arise. Really better to end his suffering now; she knew he probably wouldn't quit. On the other hand, she could toy with him and break his heart. Slow and painful. She liked that idea.

_Love I get so lost, sometimes  
days pass and this emptiness fills my heart..._

Music suddenly pounded through her window, and she shot up and out of bed to it. The music turned down slightly, but she could still hear it, clear as day. She threw open her window, and not to her surprise, Zim was clinging to her wall right outside, boombox in his hands. All of his spiderlegs were positioned around her window, keeping him perfectly stable. His antennae perked under his wig when she came out, and he let loose a grin. Gaz tried shouting at him, but the music drowned her voice.

_When I want to run away  
I drive off in my car  
but whichever way I go  
I come back to the place you are…_

Zim watched her, fascinated, while she screamed and ranted at him. He couldn't hear her, but the anger flowing around her made her look gorgeous, so he blissfully gazed at her. Upon only seeing Zim's reaction as a dopey smile, Gaz fell silent and resorted to punching his boombox. It shorted out, the music fading quickly, waking Zim up from his dream.

Instead of immediately hurting him, however, Gaz grew playful. "Zi-im, I know what you want." She grabbed his collar, pulling him close. He gulped, face blushing a dark green, but fell easily under her charm. She pulled him closer, closer...

And then slammed the window shut on his neck and hands. He screeched in agony, and Gaz preceded to pummel his face with a series of kicks, punches, and various other objects that happened to be laying nearby. After a minute or so, she threw the window back open and let him fall to the ground, writhing in pain.

Zim attempted to get up, slowly and unsteadily, but something fell from Gaz's window and onto his back. It clanked and pulled him back to the ground, and then something in it glowed red and it came to life. The monkey-looking object screeched, waving its arms wildly and hitting Zim with its long, metal appendages. Zim got up on his feet, yelling with surprise, and began running around, trying to shake or take it off. It stuck insistently to his back, still screeching and hitting him. Gaz saw Gir turn and watch, but do nothing to help his master. Both figures disappeared off into the night.

Gaz started to let out a giggle, but the doorknob turned and she re-composed herself. Dib walked in, rubbing his eyes.

He let out a mumble that Gaz translated as "Everything alright?"

"Get...out...of...MY ROOM!" Gaz shrieked, punching him, hard, in the gut. He stumbled backwards, still unaware, and she slammed the door in his face. She put her back up against it, and let out a short sigh before stifling another giggle.

She might just enjoy this "relationship" with Zim. She considered the pros and cons while she settled back in to bed.

One, she would certainly annoy the hell out of Dib. That was a major plus. Two, she could control Zim. Another major plus. Although, she didn't really want to risk actually liking Zim. That was a major bad sign.

Oh well...she could take chances. Just a little experiment for a while.

Zim didn't come to school for a few days, but no one noticed other than Dib and Gaz, though Dib swore he saw the Voot Cruiser flying around. When Zim did come back, he still had remnants of Gaz's abuse. He now avoided her like a plague, evidently having learned some kind of lesson. She watched his movements, and after that initial week, he began to grow, again, more comfortable around her.

In the meantime, Dib and Zim started hanging out at each other's houses, evidently trying to get along. Gaz knew Dib was probably just taking advantage of the fact that Zim was too stupid to think that Dib _would_ take advantage of him, but Dib hadn't made any moves after this long period of time. So, maybe for once in his miserable, pathetic life, he wasn't thinking about paranormal studies. And while Zim was in a generally better mood, he still had his "past Zim" moments.

Dib was the first to officially notice Gir's change, and Zim gave the same answer he did to Gir when Dib questioned him about it. Zim, however, did not mention what the Tallest (unbeknownst to anyone) had noticed about the little SIR unit.

Dib was ecstatic when Zim agreed to help fix Tak's ship. It meant that one, he would finally get some help form someone who really knew what they were doing, and two, he could follow Zim when he went out.

He still planned on handing Zim over the authorities, but with each day he felt a greater weight on his conscious whenever he thought about it. It was like handing a baby over to a meat factory- Zim was too...ignorant now. Too innocent and helpful. The thought of Zim on the autopsy table now sickened Dib, but Dib felt sickened with himself about that thought too.

If he wanted to be a _good_ paranormal investigator, he would hand Zim over to the authorities. When he did, he could plead Zim's case to be "Research only" though. Hm. That could work. As Zim and he worked on Tak's ship, however, he thought of delaying it until next week.

"Hey Zim, gimmie the green wire."

"You sure? It'll turn on the automatic voice."

"Oh." Dib's hand hesitated, and then waved Zim off. "Nevermind. That can be done last."

Zim laughed, and then scrambled back up from under the ship. "I'm going to connect the battery gauge." Upon hearing a silence from under the ship, he finished, "It'll adjust the power level and charge the battery. I suggest you get away from the engine."

Dib hurriedly jumped out and away from Tak's ship as Zim jumped into the cockpit. He had pulled the control board away earlier, and now connected several different wires. The ship beeped, and there was a nasty growl as Zim pulled two wires apart and connected them to other wires. The ship rocked, and Zim clung for dear life as it threatened to fall. Suddenly, it made a low, dull beep, and straightened itself, sparks flying briefly before settling down.

There was a sullen silence between the boys before Zim said quietly, "That usually means it's safe."

"Usually?" Dib questioned as Zim carefully climbed out, clicking one of the wires into the outlet in the garage. Tak's ship lit up, and Dib was pleasantly surprised to see the power didn't go out in the neighborhood.

"Most normally, almost-all-the-time-sort-of-thing." Zim said, going back under the ship. "If you want, I could test it out first..."

"Okay." Dib said, shrugging.

"Hey, hand me the 2 by 4." Zim called out from under the ship.

"Okay..." Dib said hesitantly. He grabbed the plywood and set it in Zim's hands, and Zim went back under the ship. There was a bashing noise, a spark, and finally a curse, but the ship whirred to life.

Zim crawled out from under it, and looking satisfied, patted the ship. The two worked quickly, putting the last pieces into place on the ship. After only a few more minutes, Tak's ship was completely repaired.

"Good work Dib-mon-" Zim paused, shook himself, and finished, "Dib."

Dib frowned, and asked bravely of Zim, "What's going on with you?"

Zim looked startled, antennae perking under his wig. "What do you mean?"

Dib's eyes narrowed behind his glasses. "I mean everything. You're nice, humble, helpful, and just so opposite of yourself most of the time. You past self, that is." Dib sighed and proceeded to clean his glassed on his shirt. "I just don't get it, especially when your old personality shows up like that."

Zim looked away, eyes distant. Finally, he turned back and said, "I guess I'm just trying to make up for everything that I did. I was cruel, egotistical, and an all-around bad guest on this planet. Sure, I am an Invader, but when I went through some old files in my memory, I found that the Tallest had told me to solely observe this planet." Zim grinned sheepishly. "I guess I was so eager to prove myself to them that I twisted the message."

Dib smiled at the alien. "I guess I should know how that feels."

Zim turned back to ship, feeling better, until it screamed at both of them in Tak's voice, "You sons of a Blortch rat! Where the hell am I?!"

Both boys jumped back, and one of the ship's sharp legs reached forward to try and puncture them. The wires connecting it to the garage shot back up and into the ship, and the ship instantly went dead.

There was another stunned silence between the two.

"I could've sworn it still had my personality..." Dib said wearily, getting up.

"Perhaps when I restarted the system, it went back to its original one..." Zim gawked, and eyes narrowing briefly, he reached inside and disconnected several wires. He then nodded to Dib, who ran over and re-connected the ship. The ship again whirred to life, but stayed still and quiet. Both boys let out sighs of relief.

"Thank Irk..." Zim said, exasperated.

Gaz came in through the door, calling to both of them, "Hey! Dinner's ready. Dib, get your rear up here." She turned to Zim, growing suspiciously calm and saying nicely, "Zim, you can stay if you want." She gave a nasty smile, and flounced back through the door.

Zim's mouth dropped open, and Dib glanced between him and the door, unsure of what to do or say. Zim closed his mouth, and swallowed heavily, a light blush covering his face, before turning and looking unsurely at Dib.

"Um...I'm not really sure what that was, but it can't be good." Dib stumbled, and then walked back into his house.

Zim paused, fully stunned, before shaking himself off, mumbling something. The ship beeped at him, sparked a weird red, and then fell silent again. He then got up and walked stiffly back into the house.

In the cold, dark night, a red...thing crawled along the floor of Dib's garage. It hissed something, like a curse, and wrapped itself around the wire connecting Tak's ship to the garage. It retracted quickly, and the creature crawled back up and into the cockpit. The wires connected themselves, and the ship clicked back on. There was almost no noise as coordinates set themselves, but as the ship hummed loudly and slowly backed out of the garage, lights turned on in the Membrane house. Dib rushed through the door, evidently worried, and growled a curse and rushed forward, trying to grab onto the ship. It shook him off, and then took off into the night sky.

He collapsed on the ground, cursing Zim, but looked up when he heard a mad giggle behind him. He saw the creature, and while he couldn't really make it out, he was instantly curious. He shot up and made a jump for it, whence it shrieked and moved away, scurrying in another direction. Dib recovered and scrambled after it, and timing himself, jumped and grabbed it. It screamed, tone growing to a painful pitch. Dib gasped, trying to block his ears, but held fast.

He brought the creature up close as it fell into a serious of struggling and shrieking things in a funny language. He sat on his knees, watching it, growing angrier and more curious if this was a new species.

It looked kind of like a snake, but its head was too curved and pointed, and there were three spikes on its oval head. Its length seemed to alter every second, changing between the length of a python and a small lizard. Finally, Dib could stand it no longer.

"What the hell are you, and did you do that?!" Dib cried, pointing to where Tak's ship had gone.

'_Karuni...farasha SHANA!_' Dib nearly jumped out of his skin when the creature spoke in his head, looking him dead-on in the eyes with its concaved, dark red ones. '_Stani gya ku! Deeb, daruga nagigi kufa!_'

Dib had a suspicious feeling that this thing was cursing him out, but that could be dealt with later. Dib pointed at himself, thinking, '_Deeb?_'

The creature appeared to roll its eyes, and said, '_Gani...dugi karuni...OF COURSE!_'

Dib jumped and let go of the creature, heart pounding in his chest. The creature blew him a raspberry with a snake-like tongue, also red in color, and then disappeared.

As he got back up and walked back into his house, he decided to count that as a 7.5 on his Weird Scale.

Somewhere, out in space, the ship came up to a broken metal appendage that floated along, forgotten but never dead. The ship shot a wire out, grabbing onto it and dragging back into the ship. It beeped to life, and a cry of rejoice was heard inside. A rather quiet mew came from within too, and there were words of hurt and comfort.

Revenge was not perfect enough anymore. Obliterating, now that was something.

Cold purple eyes narrowed as the navigator system set itself back on Earth, and twirled antennae flattened.

She was going back. And this time, there would be no mistakes.

END CHAPTER TEN

Rushed, piece-of-crap-sort-of-thing.

_Muchas gracias_, again, to Invader Aqua.

Hooray for cardstacking! It's my favorite reasoning fallacy. Also, sorry if what's in this chapter (hooray for ZADF!) has already been re-iterated- I tend to forget what I write a lot. It usually causes problems. XD

And I know this chapter probably could've (and should've) been combined with the previous one. Sorry!

And if the lyrics aren't allowed to be in this (copyright or something), then just let me know and I can remove them- Paraphrasing is also fun! No problem! 3

"In Your Eyes" belongs to Peter Gabriel.  
Invader Zim and everything else belongs to Jhonen Vasquez.  
Chapter Title belongith to Aerosmith.


	11. The Meek Shall Inherit The Earth

There's Always a Light in the Darkness  
Or, _The Tale of the Logical_

Chapter Eleven: The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth

President Man sat in his office, playing with a rubber band. He had not a care in the world, save for the fact he didn't know what to aim his weapon at. When one of his Secret Service men came in, he aimed and hit him square between the eyes. The man didn't appear to notice, but President man sat back and laughed like an idiot, which he was.

"President Man. We have an urgent message for you." Dave, as his nametag read, said stiffly.

President Man wiped a tear from his eye and asked joyfully, "Yes, Dave?"

"Come with me." Dave waved a hand, and President Man hopped up and followed him, a spring in his step.

They strolled through the hallway of the White House, and then Dave stopped and pressed a button at a seemingly dead end. The wall slid away, and they both walked in to a secret room, where shadowed figures awaited them.

"We've awaited you, President Man." one of them said mysteriously.

"Who...who are you?!" President Man asked, scared. Dave promptly turned on the light, alighting the room in a white glow.

President Man relaxed when he saw it was his friend, Arab Guy, leader of the Arabs. All of the other world leaders waved and said hello as he took his seat at the Circle of World Leaders.

"Gentlemen, as you well know...you are here for a reason." Dave said, briskly walking up beside President Man. the group nodded and questioned what was going on. Dave suddenly snapped, hands grasping at invisible air, spit and foam flying form his mouth as he screamed, "Well, something HORRIBLE has happened! Something so HORRIBLE, I...I can't even begin to think about it!!!"

The other leaders gasped and words of worry flew between them. Dave, however, immediately grew calm and let out a chuckle as he said re-assuringly, "I'm only kidding. We've made contact with alien life. She's on line 2, President Man."

The leaders let out sighs of relief, and then listened in as Dave turned the screen on behind President Man, who pressed the 2 button on his chair. The lights went out again, and the film rolled.

It was staticy for a second, and then the screen came on. Any normal, relatively aware person might've noticed the fake screen, made out of cloth, in the background, or the fact that the "alien" was nothing more than a cat-like creature with a bunch of springs and random metal parts on his head, but nobody in this room seemed to notice.

What attracted their attention were the pretty lights in the background, and the fact that it looked like a cat.

There was no mouth, but a voice came out from it, feminine with a slight British accent. "Hello, leaders of Earth! I am Tak, from the planet Blortch! I come in peace."

"Hello Tak!" the leaders said in unison.

"I ask for one thing from you in return- I wish to inform the people of Earth of my presence. To do this, I will need a worldwide telecast to every family, every person, every_thing_ on this planet. Can we agree to this?" she asked, and the red eyes narrowed slightly.

The leaders turned to each other and nodded, giving a general consensus upon the matter, not taking time to think about it.

President Man grinned and exclaimed, "And then you can meet Professor Membrane, and have hot dogs, and...and..."

"Yes! And so much more..." Tak said, and then suggested, "So, I suggest we broad cast immediately."

"Sounds good!" President Man exclaimed, and pressed another button on his chair, saying into it, "Greg, get everyone ready for a telecast!" and then darkly, he added, "Get me Professor Membrane."

It wasn't the fact she was staring at him, it was those creepy damn eyes.

Dib shifted uncomfortably, trying to hide behind Zim's thin frame. He could still feel Gretchen's empty stare into his soul, perhaps beyond even. There was something wrong with her, though more wrong than the normal, and everyone could feel it. Her eyes were glazed over, and she did everything slowly and almost in a daze. Dib had hoped she'd gotten over whatever disease she'd had years ago when she'd sort-of stalked him, but maybe it was something beyond that.

Perhaps her braces had picked up on some alien radio waves, before she'd finally gotten them removed. He noticed Zims stare, and he jerked his head in Gretchen's direction. Zim glanced at her, and then back at Dib, before doing a double-take and turning to stare at her.

"Don't stare! You'll attract her attention!" Dib growled, face starting to glow a light pink.

Zim turned back to him, oblivious of the social rules concerning this situation. "What attention? Can't you see she's-" He paused, cutting himself off, and then shook himself and continued poking at his food.

Dib glanced back over at Gretchen, and watched as the food she'd put in her mouth lazily fell back out as she chewed slowly, half-lidded eyes boring into Dib's. She didn't appear to notice, but Dib shivered violently and turned to face his sister.

"What, afraid to have your own stalker again?" Gaz asked tauntingly.

"No, it's just that..." Dib couldn't finish, because Gaz was right.

The bell rang, and the group got up and together dumped their food in the trash. Zim hung behind, trying to walk slightly ahead but close to Gaz, while Dib strolled briskly off. Zim flicked his eyes towards Gretchen, who stopped "eating" and got up to follow Dib. He narrowed his eyes, and suddenly his left contact lit on fire.

He screamed in agony, falling to the floor, hands clutching his eye. Gaz nearly tripped over him, and stood stock-still for a second, caught between killing him and helping him. She grimaced, and then got to her knees and grasped Zim's shoulder. Dib stopped to watch, hesitated, and then ran off, trying to avoid Gretchen, who appeared not to notice anything.

"Hey. Get over it and get to the nurse." Gaz demanded, which was her version of "Are you okay?"

Zim wasn't in enough pain to _not_ notice that, and he looked shocked before writhing in pain as more smoke pummeled out from between his fingers. Torque, who had been watching this play out, began to laugh, encouraging the other students to join in. Gaz glared at him, and his pants lit on fire as she helped Zim up and out of the lunchroom. They walked down the hallway, Gaz practically dragging Zim towards the nurse.

"No, she'll see my eyes and figure it out..." Zim dug his heels into the floor, and Gaz was surprised to find she could not move him further. She made a point to glare at him, but he continued, "Perhaps...if you did something to my wound..."

Zim's mind went into a panic. He knew there was something couples did to each other when they were hurt (other than hurt each other more, which was normally Gaz's plan). He didn't remember what, but it was special and "cute".

Gaz, however, knew what he meant, and she made a face. "You want me to kiss your eye?"

"Yes!" Zim said automatically, recalling this. It took a full moment of silence for the fact ot finally register in his head, and he said sheepishly, "I'm s-sorry. I just...I've heard human...erm..._spit_ is very healing."

Gaz sighed heavily, and glanced around several times before carefully lifting Zim's hands from his eye, which had dulled to steaming. She quickly reached up and pecked his cheek, and then retracted, watching him.

When all he did was grin like an idiot, she left him with the new present of a kick in the knee.

When Dib came home, the last thing he expected was his father. Professor Membrane buzzed around the house, talking to the floating screen head of President Man. He was evidently in search of something, as he scoured every corner for whatever he was in search of. President Man shut off, but Prof. Membrane continued his search of the object.

"Hey Dad." Dib said, though her didn't expect his father to answer.

"Hello son! You haven't borrowed my ultra-large memory chip, have you? I wanted to use it for my new anti-Santa robot, but I can't seem to find it." He picked up the couch and glanced under, but didn't find his chip.

Dib had a quick and horrific flashback to the night Dire had betrayed him, and his legs went weak briefly as his sister walked in behind him. "No." he answered.

"Okay, well, I can't find it, so I best get to work on my other project." Prof. Membrane turned and began to walk into his lab, but he paused in thought.

Dib turned get a snack, heading into the kitchen as his father finally continued into his lab.

Dib and Gaz sat, watching Mysterious Mysteries, waiting for the main headline- even though it was a re-run, Dib still couldn't wait until they showed the story of the Mothman. It was, by far, his favorite.

Gaz burped, sending tendrils of pizza flavor into the air. She patted her stomach lovingly, grinning wickedly at Dib's disgusted face.

"I don't understand you either." Dib finally said.

"I don't understand why you talk to me so much." Gaz retorted, watching the commercial for Bloaty's.

"You know I don't like when you act all nice to Zim-" Dib started, but Gaz interrupted him rather sharply.

"What's the difference between you and me?" she growled, glaring up at him.

"M-My object is research! You're just...being a girl!" Dib gawked.

"Well, maybe I'm doing research too." Gaz said, turning back to the TV. Before Dib could protest, a World News flash popped up on the screen.

Their father rushed in from his lab, and slid to a stop behind them, spurting, "It's on!"

"What's on?" Dib and Gaz asked simultaneously, but their father shushed them.

"This just in- an alien of the 'Irken' race has just made contact with humanity, and she has agreed to speak with us live- I go to you, Ken!" the news castor said cheerfully, pointing off screen.

The view switched to another, rather pretty-looking anchorman, and as his held his headset, Dib and Gaz noticed a very familiar-looking figure behind him, and Dib's heart beat with dread every second.

"Well, here we are, and this," he gestured to the green, purple-eyed, curly antennae'd alien behind him, "Is Tak. Tak, would you like to say anything to the world?"

It was Tak, in fact, who glared up at the reporter as the camera pulled down to her. She hadn't changed much, really. She was still only a good four feet tall, and those bug eyes held every bit of anger and frustration from many years ago.

She turned, and said into the screen, eyes flashing with a strange light, "I am your new master! Tak, of the mighty Irken race!"

Dib and Gaz didn't react, but they whipped their head around as their father shook himself.

"Tak...new master..." he said, hypnotized. The camera pulled up, and Ken, had the same dull look.

"Tak...we obey Tak..." he said, and similar phrases echoed from the area around them.

"Oh no...Tak hypnotized them all!" Dib cried, throwing himself off the couch and shaking his father violently. It was to no avail, however; he was unresponsive.

"Thanks you, Captain Obvious!" Gaz shot back, rolling her eyes.

"I ask for one thing right now- bring me Zim!" Tak shouted across the TV, "Or, if he's listening, he'll turn himself in, or I'll take over this planet by myself!" she cackled, her awkward laugh echoing into the screen as the cameraman turned, marching stiffly off, no doubt to find Zim.

Professor Membrane followed suit, an unstoppable object compared to Dib's tiny strength. Gaz made no movement to help either of them, resorting to solely turning on and playing her Gameslave.

"Gaz! Help- you can't let Tak take back over!" Dib pleaded, but his words fell on deaf ears. he sighed, and pointed out, "Since Tak took over, the producers at Gameslave will not continue processing Vampire Piggies 5 and 6."

That caught her attention. Gaz snarled darkly, and jumped off the couch, following Dib out the door and down the street to Zim's house.

Gaz incinerated the lawn gnomes upon sight, and Dib heard an alarm go off inside zim's house as they neared. Dib knocked hurriedly, though he saw no one around

"Zim! It's okay! It's us! Dib and Gaz- Tak's hypnosis didn't work against us..."

There was silence inside, and Dib only saw darkness when he glanced through the windows.

"Maybe he got hypnotized." Gaz suggested, wrapped up in her game.

"No, last time he didn't-" Dib was standing in front of the door when it flew open, hitting him square in the head and sending him flying backwards. A green and red shape blew past Gaz, and an aura of evil so powerful hit her, causing her eyes to fly wide open and mouth to drop as a shiver went down her spine. Dib screamed as Zim hit him, keeping him down and throwing his claws at Dib's face.

"You...you will betray me! You stupid M-" Zim screeched, slitted pupils now small and unnoticeable in his blazing red sockets. He paused on the last word, shock taking him as his antennae perked. he suddenly leapt backwards, clutching his head and yelling as sparks flew over him. His Pak screeched, and his spiderlegs supported him as he writhed and slammed into his house.

Gaz and Dib could only watch in terror as Zim jerked about. Dib turned and saw his hypnotized neighbors moving slowly towards them, much akin to zombies. He turned to Zim, unsure of what to do. Those eyes made him frightened- they held pure insanity...

Zim finally began to calm down, the sparks dulling to a low and frequent buzz. He slowly opened one eye, a mark pulsing up to it.

"I'm...sorry. Tak's wave...hit me harder than I thought. I have been...sensitive to these things since...well, you know." He winced and motioned to the open door. "Come inside. I'm perfectly fine and in control now. I thought...I thought these impulses had gone, but I was...wrong." He looked sadly at the ground, the marks disappearing as his appearance changed back to normal.

Gaz's breath calmed down and she also returned to normal, recognizing Zim now. She grabbed Dib and threw him inside, walking in as Zim followed and shut the door, locking it quietly.

She looked around his house, remembering everything. She and Dib turned as Zim quickly put his contacts back in, blinking twice to get them adjusted.

"I have found no cure for the eyes, despite my research." He walked past them, hand making the gesture for them to follow as lasers fired at the neighbors outside. "I have found nothing on what Dire did to me. I can...see things, sense things, etc, but there is no cure...But that's not why you're here. Tak has taken this planet, I know- Gir and I saw the news. We are lucky her power doesn't work on us."

He opened up a cabinet, pressing a few buttons inside the door, and all three watched as a wide, round elevator came up from under the trash can. Dib hesitated, as did Gaz, but only for a moment. As soon as they went inside, it closed the door and moved downward.

Gaz remembered everything as they went down, and played her Gameslave while Dib only crossed his arms, unimpressed and upset he'd been forced into this.

Zim let them off first, and then hurried ahead to the massive control panel at the end of the walkway. He hit a few buttons, and the video of Tak replayed. It paused before her eyes flashed, and Zim pointed to the background.

"My computer traced the call back to its source, and she's somewhere in…er…New Yamma." Zim tried.

"New York?" Dib offered, arcing an eyebrow.

"Yes, thanks." Zim nodded and turned back to the screen. "We need a plan to stop her, and fast. My defenses can hold off the people for a while, but not forever."

"So let's just head over there and kick her rear like we did last time." Gaz suggested, shrugging it off.

"That's what I was hoping for." Zim said, smiling and nodding. "However, while her resources are evidently limited, I wouldn't say we leave as we are. We need…stuff."

"Stuff?" dib asked, wondering about the meaning of that.

"Stuff." Zim said, and an entire shelf of evidently alien weapons came down, Zim carefully picking up one resembling a revolver.

Dib eagerly ran up, observing each, before picking up a blue one in similar size to Zim's. Gas shrugged, continuing to play her Gameslave.

Zim glanced between her and the gun rack, and picked up a dark-colored one to hand to her. "I prefer if you come prepared-" he started.

"I can handle myself." Gaz corrected him, and turned to walk off towards board the Voot Cruiser.

Zim gave a little sigh, but put the gun in his Pak, the other one following. Dib found a convenient clip on the gun putting on his belt loop before strolling after Gaz, making a point to give a little glare to Zim.

Zim motioned with his hand, and Gir jumped down from the ceiling, sucking on a soda. The two of them then walked after the siblings, Zim nervously fixing his bent antenna.

END CHAPTER ELEVEN

OMG Zim is awful at picking up girls. XD He must have SOME kind of charm, though...

What became of Dire's ship? Dib went out one night, and it had mysteriously disappeared…

Yeah, no one noticed Tak's change in appearance. I loathe that world.

Invader Zim and its related charies- © Jhonen Vaquez and Nick.

Dire belongith to me.

chapter title belongith to Creature Feature. :3

And sorry for making the chapters shorter. I'm trying to delay the imminent end...


	12. Bad Moon Rising

There's Always a Light in the Darkness

Or, _The Tale of the Logical_

By: The Talking Absol

Chapter Twelve: Bad Moon Rising

Tak's fortress was much like her previous one, only this time, it was built into a military base. Tanks filled with hypnotized, bloodthirsty army men patrolled the area, while guards in towers, built periodically around the area, watched from above. Zim hovered the Voot Cruiser far above the ground, taking in the details as best he could.

"Tak's got the place surrounded...she might be expecting us." Zim stated.

"Thanks for the news flash." Gaz smartly retorted.

"Last time, Gaz and I were able to find a way in thanks to the one stupid guard...but I doubt Tak left that option open this time." Dib said, trying to find an open area.

"Drop me off and circle around. I'll get us in." Gaz said, shrugging.

"We can't do that! They have guns, and I don't think they'll hesitate to hurt you." Zim pleaded, turning to face her.

"You think I'm weak? Huh? Do you?!" Gaz hissed, reaching across to pull Zim in by his collar.

"Gaz!" Dib shouted, while Zim froze and racked his Pak for an answer that wouldn't upset her.

"N-no!" Zim said softly, blushing.

Gaz huffed and pushed him back, making a point to elbow Dib. "That's what I thought."

Zim hesitantly put his hands back on the controls, antennae twitching madly. "Okay. But if something happens, I'm coming down to help."

"What about me?!" Dib asked, feeling sick at Zim's concern for his sister.

"No one cares, Dib." Gaz growled, smiling as he bowed his head in angst.

...

Zim made sure Gaz hit the ground safely before pulling up and away quickly, trying to avoid the array of bullets coming after them. A giant dust cloud formed, both from the engines and the bullets. Zim turned to look back, and Gaz was no where in sight. Dib followed his gaze and they both gasped.

"Gaz!" they cried in unison.

Zim made a sudden high-G turn, throwing Dib into the opposite wall of the ship. He pressed a few buttons, looking intense but slightly scared. He knew the Voot Cruiser didn't have any weapons, but he could run a few guards over. As he turned, however, he noticed almost all of the men had fallen to the ground, unconscious.

He pulled down and around, coming to a stop a few feet from Gaz. His headlights illuminated her, and he froze up, watching her re-adjust herself. Everything about her fascinated him to no end, and realizing it made this feeling worse. He wished he could touch her...be sure she was not just an illusion of beauty in his mind...perhaps even...

"GAZ!" Dib shouted, waking Zim up with a start. Dib jumped out the door, running up to her, arms wide as if to hug her. She punched him as he came close, causing Zim to laugh as he left the Cruiser, Gir strangely silent the entire time. The cruiser beeped as he locked it, shutting down while he helped Dib up.

"How'd you do that?" Zim asked, nodding towards Gir before following Gaz towards the building. She ignored his movements, and instead shrugged it off.

"Eh. They're all inexperienced morons." Gaz said simply.

"You...could've died...and that's all you have to say?" Dib asked, perplexed.

"Yeah."

Dib sighed, then straightened himself and followed them up to the door. As he walked, he looked around the area. Where had all of the guards gone, suddenly? And why was it so quiet? He glanced behind himself, and realized with a start Gir was nowhere in sight, his constant monologue gone.

Zim tried the doors, and then frantically pulled the handles, finding they were locked securely.

"They've locked down their fortress!" Zim cried, but his voice died as he realized what he was saying, "With...locks..." He looked away in embarrassment.

"MASTER! You weren't going to leave me, were you?! I WANT TACOS!" Gir shouted, flying into Zim, knocking him to the ground.

"Gir! You'll alert the guards!" Zim warned, rubbing his back.

"What guards? They've all disappeared." Dib pointed out.

"What?" Zim asked, but before any of them could try and answer, the door opened, revealing darkness inside. Gir immediately ran in, screaming his head off.

"No! Gir!" Zim cried, and followed him, Gaz and Dib not far behind. Before they could adjust themselves to the dark, hundreds of rifles suddenly cocked at their heads, all from determined-looking people in militaristic outfits. Beyond them lay other inhabitants of Earth, albeit weaponless.

"We're screwed." Dib said softly.

"No, not quite yet, Dib." a familiar voice said from beyond the crowd. The group parted, revealing Tak and Mimi as they walked up. Tak had her head bowed, a cocky smile played on her face, while Mimi kept an eye on the group. "I'm willing to forgive you and your sister if you will both admit defeat and swear your allegiance to me and my Tallest."

"Not in a mi-" Dib started, but Zim elbowed him, keeping a glare on Tak.

"As for you, Zim, I'm going to kill you. I'm sick of having you ruin everything. Guards! Execute him!" Tak growled, and one of the guards grabbed Zim, who didn't resist much. Tak suddenly stepped back, gasping, her eyes widening as Zim stood.

"Irk...you're....you're tall." Tak stammered, her antennae drooping.

"So I've heard." Zim said, while Gir danced around behind him. Mimi narrowed her red eyes, a flash of a painful memory going through her processors.

"That...That doesn't matter! You're still going to-" Tak cried, but all of the guards suddenly dropped their weapons and began screaming, falling to the floor and going in circles. Gaz wiped her hands, satisfied.

"NO!" Tak hissed, and glanced one more time at the group before turning and fleeing into a nearby elevator. An alarm sounded, and more guards came running out from all areas, clearly about to surround the group again, while the common folk stepped up much akin to zombies.

Dib and Gaz started up and after Tak, but Zim turned, putting a hand up. "Stop. I'm going to face Tak alone." he said, and commanded Gir as he turned to run after Tak, "Come on!"

"Imma gunna dace like a monkey!" Gir stated proudly, and danced all the way to the elevator, both quickly getting inside as it came back up.

"That jerk!" Dib growled, taking his gun out.

"This'll be a piece of cake." Gaz said, rubbing her fists.

...

Tak cursed when she saw Zim come out of the elevator, but was thankful to see it was only him and Gir, who was still dancing and not paying any attention. She could handle them, no matter how Zim had changed.

She turned to Mimi, whispering a command before hopping down from the ceiling to finally face Zim head-to-head. Mimi followed her, her smashing fist forming and clenching it tightly.

"I could've suspected that you'd come and face me yourself...again. You're still the same ignorant idiot from all those years ago, Zim." Tak said coolly, her purple eyes narrowing.

"Perhaps...We shall see. Gir..." Zim said, turning slightly to Gir, "Show Mimi what you've learned."

Gir giggled madly, giving Zim a dopey smile as he ate a taco that had been stored in his body. He munched on the rest of it, ignoring Zim's orders.

"Typical! My point has been made. I'll finish what I started NOW!" Tak shouted, rushing at Zim on her spider legs, Mimi closing in on Gir.

Zim looked cool, and glanced at Gir once more before going up on his own spider legs. As Mimi was about to crash into Gir, Tak soared towards Zim. But, there was no Zim anymore. Instead, she slid to a halt on her spider legs, glancing around worriedly. A rather large boot in the back of her head made her realize where Zim was, though, and she struggled to turn while her body smashed to the floor. Her spider legs picked her back up while Zim's sparked red. Zim let the front two legs come up, and removed his contacts, putting them back into his Pak. Tak didn't hesitate, trying to surprise him and stab him with her front legs. She came to another abrupt halt when he opened his eyes again, and her Pak sparked while it tried to process exactly what was in front of her.

"I have...a special power now, Tak, one that you cannot beat down or out. I am the true Irken now; a being beyond the common comprehension." His slitted, snake-like eyes sparkled, red marks pulsing down his body. His clothing ripped to match the curious, ancient pattern, and even his antennae bent under his own pressure. He smiled, feeling free and refreshed, while Tak backed up, confused and disoriented.

"Don't fret, though." He continued, flexing his nasty-looking claws. "I am no threat...so long as you stay off my case." With that, he charged her, faster than anything she'd ever witnessed. His spider legs sparked, and his top right one shot up and pierced her shoulder, the other then reaching up and shoving her off and into a wall. Zim landed on his feet as Tak slid to the floor, her shoulder smoking, face screwed up in pain.

"RESTORATION IN PROCESS." her Pak informed her. Tak glanced briefly up before Zim struck again, this time punching her head into the floor, the pure force knocking one of her front teeth out. Her antennae picked up on his voice, like he was talking quietly to himself while fighting her. She couldn't pick up on the words, but something deep in her gut told her she shouldn't be listening.

Mimi, while not injured, was not in the best condition either. Gir danced around her moves, giggling and sipping at a soda he'd pulled out of his head. He was bigger than before, so he evidently had more storage, but he was also faster than the smaller Mimi. Mimi narrowed her red eyes, and tried to feint him, aiming to the left with her left fist, but then slipped one arm under the other and tried an uppercut, pointing upon her right foot to gain leverage. Gir caught her fist with his own, and giggling madly, threw her away like a forgotten toy, resorting to sitting down and sipping away.

Mimi recovered, and glanced at her mistress, and her eyes grew wide as she watched Zim mercilessly throw Tak around. Her eyes locked on him, and her danger sensors went wild, the ratings off the chart. She immediately went into conflict about the greater mission, but Tak quickly answered her call.

"Mimi! Stop him!" Tak screeched, trying to limp away. Zim picked her up by her left leg, and his face stern, picked her up and shoved her into the wall again.

Mimi flew a quick, straight course at Zim, aiming for his Pak. Just as it seemed like she'd win and end the fight with a punch, she crashed into something just as hard as her. Her eyes rolled up to focus as she sailed for the floor, and if she would've been able to, she would've gasped. Gir held her down by the throat, blue eyes just as cruel as his master's. Abruptly, though, they turned happy again, and Gir let Mimi go, instead turning and dancing. Mimi took the opportunity and jumped back, trying to find another strategy.

"But how...what's..." Tak stammered, wondering how Gir had moved so fast.

"Gir." Zim stated, going up on his red, pulsing spider legs, "Go watch Scary Monkey."

Gir's head snapped up, eyes changing to an eerie red. He turned, eyes locking in on Mimi, who froze when her Danger sensors soared through her charts again. Gir stood and faced her, all of his metal appendages shifting around to another form, much bigger and scarier than what he had once been.

"Gir." Zim said again, grinning from ear to ear at Tak's shocked and horrified look, "Exterminate them."

"CONFIRMED. EXTERMINATION IN PROCESS." Gir responded, voice deeper and more robotic.

"Wh...wh..." Tak staggered backwards, all of her Pak senses going wild. She needed to run, she wanted to get away...

Gir's giant head turned to look at Mimi, who whimpered. His fist clenched, spinning as it shot like a cannon towards her. She dodged, albeit barely, and ran towards the opposite door. Gir tracked her movements, and while his left came up from the ground, his right hand shot forward and grabbed her at an amazing speed. By the time Gir had clenched her in his fist and dragged her back, half of her body was crushed and her eyes were fading out. Tak gasped, feeling a variety of emotions that startled her.

Tak turned to look briefly at Zim before taking one last look at Mimi as Gir brought her up to his face to observe. She then turned and bolted for the door, hoping to the Tallests Zim or Gir didn't get her. She heard Zim cackle, but she was almost to the door...

A rush of movement and electricity made her stop feet from the door; Zim blocked it.

"I made sure to program your ship to find you...I knew you'd come back and try this again, Tak." Zim's snake-like eyes narrowed darkly, his grin growing on his face again.

"But...but why?" Tak demanded, backing up and jumping as she heard Gir ripping Mimi apart.

"To experiment. I needed a good subject, and I didn't want to betray what trust I have in Dib...or Gaz." His eyes turned worrisome for a moment at the mention of Gaz, but it was gone in a flash.

"For...?" Tak questioned, though she didn't really want to know.

"For the sake of Logic." Zim said, and cackling, tackled Tak, knocking her unconscious.

...

Gaz and Dib had somehow managed to make it through the first couple waves, Gaz's shadow "abilities" coming easily handy. However, they were both tiring, and the humans kept coming. They heard several crashes from below, and glanced at each other in almost worry before turning back to the fight. Suddenly, after only a short while or so, all the humans stopped, shook themselves and began to question what they were doing in a military base. Gaz had one leg caught by some senator, her fist about to slam into his face. Dib was entangled between a group of army men, his gun somewhere in the crowd. Both were dropped, and the large group of people began to wander out, acting as if nothing had happened.

"Hey! Don't you guys want to know how we saved you?!" Dib demanded.

"My poor, insane son." a familiar voice said, and both rotated their heads to see their father walk up, rubbing his head.

"Dad! You are not going to believe this but-! Oh. Wait. You won't." Dib said, growing distant. Gaz picked herself up, blowing hair out of her face. Zim, in disguise, came rushing through the crowd, a beaten Tak slung over his shoulder. Gir followed, doing his usual monkey dance.

"Good work, guys! Let's go home." Zim gave everyone a thumbs-up, grinning wildly, even giving a nod to Prof. Membrane. Dib thought he saw a red spark flash across his face, but he figured it might've been the light. He turned and got Zim's gun putting it back in his pocket as the other three left.

As they walked out, a thought occurred to Dib, and he tugged at his father's coat, pointing to Tak.

"Hey! Can't you see she's an alien?" he demanded.

Prof. Membrane glanced over, but shook his head, withdrawing a picture of the Mimi-alien from his coat.

"No son, that's a perfectly normal human. THIS is an alien!" he said proudly, flashing the picture before Dib.

"But she has...oh never mind." Dib sighed, walking with a downtrodden hunch in his back.

"Were you okay?" Zim asked the two siblings.

"Yeah, of course." Gaz said, folding her arms across her chest.

"Mm-hm." Dib answered quickly, considering the situation. "Although I wish this had happened after school. Only a few more weeks to go and I have to ssave the world? Jeez." he stretched, and put his arms behind his head, for once ignoring the stupidity of the society around him.

"Yes. That would've been nice." Zim shifted Tak slightly, and she let out a moan.

"What are you going to do with her, anyway?" Dib asked, arcing an eyebrow.

"I'll take her back to my lab, repair her ship, and hopefully send her home. The Tallest won't be happy, but she'll be out of our hair for a while." Zim informed him, and Dib shrugged, happy to feel the sunshine, although it had been a rather short battle. He was surprised. Last time, it had taken hours to bring Tak down. But how Zim had done it still remained a mystery.

Dib chanced a glance at Tak, and felt a slight shiver run down his spine as his eyes took in deep claw marks across her cheeks. Maybe he should wait to ask Zim that question.

...Later...

Tak was suddenly aware that she was awake, because her Pak informed her so. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the dim lighting, and she blinked harshly, her left eye swollen from the cuts.

"Where..." she started, and tried moving. Every part of her lit up in pain, and she cried out and retracted, arms held above her head by chains. She dared a glance up, and was not surprised to see Zim standing a few feet away, observing her.

"Hello, Tak." he said quietly.

"Zim! I want to know exactly what you've done, and what the hell-" she started, but Zim shushed her.

"No. You're going to answer my questions. How'd you hypnotize Gretchen to spy on us?" he asked, and her look changed to shocked.

"You…you knew, and yet you did nothing?" she stammered.

"Yes. I told you- I needed a test, and your name came up. But answer my question now."

"It was random. I had my ship intercept her cable, just to see if I could. I was hoping to get Dib and his family personally first, but I had forgotten it didn't work on them. So, I went with the flow." She smiled lightly, and then said cockily, "I hope you realize what the Tallest will do once they find out."

"I would think the opposite, Tak. You invaded my own mission, and while it has been...delayed, it is still my-" Zim tried, but Tak interrupted with something that changed his mood.

"You never had a mission! The Tallest gave you this wretched planet so they could get rid of you!" Tak cried, and continued with Zim's shocked look, "You never noticed the way they taunted you, grew tired of you, never contacted you, and even played jokes on you? You idiot! This was all a joke! On YOU! And guess what? It worked! And they...and they..." she stopped when his look calmed, the opposite of what she'd expected.

"Ah...I...I see." he said, eyes darting elsewhere. He suddenly shook himself and walked closer to her, reaching behind her back and pushing a button on her Pak, opening it.

"Hey, what- what are you doing?" Tak demanded, trying to turn her head.

"You see, Tak, I'm going to need reinforcements. All this does is put a new part in my long-term plan. I had hoped to take over the universe for my Tallest, but now it appears I shall do it without them." He stared up into her startled purple eyes, and he seemed to consider something before breaking away and going behind her.

"What do you mean?" she asked hesitantly.

"I mean, dearest Tak, that I shall overthrow the Tallest. They are no longer...fit for my vision. And neither are you." he stated plainly. And then, Tak's world erupted in pain and darkness.

END CHAPTER TWELVE

wow.

Crappy chapter, sorry.

Just trying to get things moving again.

Invader Zim and related things belong to Jhonen Vasquez and Nick.

Chapter Title to Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Logic belongs to me. Feel free to pet his pretty hair, though!

Logic: I hate yoooouuu...


	13. Smooth Criminal

There's Always a Light in the Darkness  
Or, _The Tale of the Logical_  
By: The Talking Absol

Chapter Thirteen: Smooth Criminal

Zim looked nervous.

Really, _really_ nervous. In fact, he might've been sweating a little.

After all, it was his first night out with the Membrane family. Technically, it was family night, but Gaz had (albeit a little reluctantly) invited him along, thanks to her father's and brother's consent.

But, besides the fact he was sitting next to Gaz, frightening memories of the horrific machines of Bloaty's Pizza Hog made him more nervous. They only came out occasionally, but he was still disturbed and tentative.

"…And remember to mix Chemical A and C, NOT A and B. I'll be back in an hour." Prof. Membrane spoke to his assistant, and then closed the watch screen and shut it down.

Dib rapped his fingers on the table, glancing between Gaz and Zim. Gaz had her arms folded across her chest, looking haughtily away, but she sneaked a few glances at the anxious Zim, whose three-clawed hands never let go of the seat.

Prof. Membrane, surprisingly, started the conversation. "So, what have you kids been up to, despite passing Physics with flying colors?" he proudly patted his son on the head, adding, "See, _real_ science can be fun too, right my boy?"

Dib rolled his eyes behind his glasses. "Sure Dad. Real fun."

Zim's mouth twitched in a worrisome smile, but quickly fell when Prof. Membrane turned back to him.

"So when are you planning on going back home, Zim? Er…from wherever it is you came from, that is."

Zim looked thoughtful, his thought turned away from the immediate. "Hm…I was hoping to go back after schools out."

"Sounds like a plan! And I hear you've taken an interest in Gaz, too-" that was the wrong thing for him to say, because the table suddenly erupted in loud protests, whilst the rest of the restaurant went silent at the mere mention of someone taking an interest in Gaz Membrane.

"No, Dad! Zim's not…he's never…" Dib stuttered, trying to find the right words.

"We are NOT dating Dad! I just invited him along 'cause he's Dib's friend."

"Oh, so now it's ME who asked Dad to bring Zim, huh? And who's been eyeing him this entire time-"

"SHUT UP!" Gaz cried, and everyone shrunk away.

"I feel like a third wheel…" Zim noted very quietly.

Gaz growled darkly, but quieted as the waitress hesitantly dropped their pizza off, and then skirted away, screaming.

There was a deadly silence in the restaurant before Gaz's stomach growled. Zim and Dib both let out a short burst of a giggle, but Gaz kicked Dib in the knee, and lightly punched Zim. Thus, the noise and activity continued.

As they dug in, Zim began to pick the excess of meat off of his slice, and Prof. Membrane commented, now a bit more careful with his wording, "Vegetarian?"

"Er…that's why I have green skin!" Zim stated, carefully giving his meat to Gaz, who happily added it to her own slice.

"Hm…I'll have to research that." Prof. Membrane rubbed his chin, but continued eating.

Abruptly, a light jingle rang, and Prof. Membrane touched his goggles, whence they lit up.

"Sir! It's very bad! Joe the custodian was thirsty, so he drank the vial containing Acid 1, and now he's screaming in pain! What do we do?! WE NEED YOU!" someone screeched.

"But we don't know what that acid is! That's why it was in the vial-" Prof. Membrane started.

"What's it look like?" Zim asked abruptly.

There was a quick silence before Prof. Membrane answered, "Clear."

"Hydroflouric Acid, most likely. Tell them to rub Calcium gel on him as soon as possible." Zim said, and then continued eating his pizza.

Slowly, Prof. Membrane turned back behind his goggles. "O-Of course. Of course! Calcium gel, now."

"Thanks, Professor!" the light clicked off, and Prof. Membrane held out a hand to Zim.

"Good work, Zook!" he said, and Zim shook it warmly.

"Thank you."

Dib pondered over how he'd known that. He personally didn't know anything about acids, other than they could burn you. His father worked with them all the time, but he was careful. He certainly hoped Zim wasn't planning anything with those. He decided to check up on the house cameras again when he got home.

"I'm so glad we could come out for this family night! Research shows that families who spend time together are less likely to go crazy! I'm beginning to think it's having an effect on you, Dib!" Professor Membrane said proudly.

"Uh-huh." Dib said mid-bite.

"Oh, but Dib isn't crazy! He's probably just more…" Zim thought over his choice of words carefully, "misunderstood than everyone else."

Dib gave him a curious glare, but didn't question further.

Gaz growled, "Or more ignorant than everyone."

"Now now! No more childish fighting. I expect you two to grow up and get along well! Agree on situations and all that." Prof. Membrane said, but then ate in silence.

Gaz turned away, an unhappy look written across her face. Since when had she and Dib ever agreed? Okay, so they both knew Zim was an alien, but Gaz knew he couldn't take over an anthill. Also, he wasn't some horrible monster with snake eyes, like Dib had tried that one night. And he certainly wasn't a jerk anymore (or, at least, not in the truly bad way.)

Also, Dib stole her food and drinks a lot. She couldn't ever forgive him for that.

**…:Later:…**

As they left the building, Zim was sure to flee around the robots as they came up to him, whimpering like an animal caught in a trap. Gaz laughed at his flight, but agreed to walk him home under much pressure from him. Dib felt his insides squirm at this, but said nothing as his father made him drive home. Professor Membrane chatted consistently about how he thought the real career for Dib was "real" science, but Dib didn't really listen.

Was Zim finally a good guy? Was he truly trying to blend in?

If he was, he was doing a good job of it. Making friends, acting nicely to everyone, not being all egotistical…

But then, what had he done to Tak? Dib felt a different shiver of worry than he would've for the sake of the human race; more really like possible concern for the female Invader. It was just natural, really, he assured himself- after all, no one would want to be hurt by a maniac destroyer-of-worlds.

But, all in all, things were looking up for once. Only a few more weeks (three if you counted yesterday) and they'd be out of school, Zim was settled down, and Gaz wasn't beating anyone up severely.

Yep. Definitely looking forward to the future.

**…:Meanwhile:…**

"Gaz? This is not the way home." Zim reminded her, glancing around the darkening park.

"Just shut up and follow me." She commanded. He obeyed.

He was insistent on walking beside her, though, looking at every tree, as if memorizing the details on the bark. Occasionally, he tried reaching for her hand, but she always snatched it away with an annoyed rumble. Finally, they came upon a small cliff, where the forest was clear. Gaz stood close to the edge, and then moved forward and sat there, legs dangling in open space. Zim cocked his head, and then sat next to her.

There was a comfortable silence between the two before Gaz spoke.

"Why are you hounding me like this?" she asked, not bothering to look at him.

Zim turned, his wig shifting. "Because…it annoys Dib." Upon her actually giving him a squinted glare, he smiled and held up his hands, continuing, "Just kidding. In truth, it is…unexplainable. We don't feel love, that is for sure, but I think it is…similar."

"So you love me."

"In esse- deh- yes."

Gaz blew a strand of purple hair out of her face, watching in fall back down on another cheek.

"That's just…stupid."

"'Love is unpredictable,' I've heard your philosophers say. And why do you think that way?"

"Because I'm not…" Gaz struggled to think up something that would fit.

_Pretty, nice, charming, girly, attractive…_

"…I'm not like any other girl."

"Maybe that's why. The rest of your species is…special in a bad way." He grinned, but it dropped when she gave him a Look.

"Well, just to make it clear, I don't like you. You were unbearable before, and while you aren't now, you're annoying in a different way." She huffed.

"Ah. That's fine. I expected that."

Gaz turned to look at him, her expression changing to shock for the first time.

"Then why are you still going after me? Even though it's useless? Even if I'm not…anything a guy should be attracted to?"

_She had done that on purpose. Better to let them leave her alone than have them chasing after her like Jessica and have "competition" and "boy troubles"…_

_Just for a pure second of a second, though, she wondered…_

Zim looked up at the sky. "I don't…Correction." Here he grinned again, "I know that you'll eventually grow tired of it and simply-"

"…Fall into your arms, just like that?" Gaz actually laughed, but quickly coughed and tried to cover it, much to Zim's amazement. "I don't think so."

Zim shrugged, smiling nicely. "We'll see." He turned to her, and got onto his knees as if preparing to go.

"And don't say you're not attractive. It's all a matter of opinion." His three-clawed hand touched her face, and he leaned in.

She held up a hand to his face, growling. Zim backed off almost instinctually.

"Look," She stated, rolling her eyes, "If we're going to do this, which we _won't_, I'll be the one making the moves.

He looked depressed for a second before she grabbed his shirt, dragging him in, and kissed him right on the lips.

He tensed up, and looked very, very surprised, more especially when they parted.

"Don't. Say. Anything." She warned, and then got up and left, jumping off the small cliff and heading home.

He was stock-still until a thought hit him like a ton of bricks. "Oh! Wait! I get it!" Smiling like a lunatic, he jumped to his feet and skipped into the park.

Gaz, on the other hand, looked around as she neared the edge of the park for any sign of a person, and then smiled, very lightly.

Dib might be jealous. She'd just kissed an alien.

…:The Membrane Household:…

Dib sighed quietly. His enemy was taken care of, now a harmless creature from beyond. Feeling a slight sense of accomplishment, Dib sat back and closed his eyes.

The next thing he knew, the doorbell was ringing. Grumbling something under his breath that sounded like "tacos", he got up from the couch, stretched, and walked calmly over to the door. He unlocked it as the doorbell rang impatiently again.

"Hold on, 'ahm gettin' it…" he mumbled. He opened to door and had to do a double-take at what he saw.

Zim. On. His. Doorstep.

_Grinning._

"Did you miss me?" Zim purred, the marks across his body pulsing blood red in the night, eyes arcing into a mocking, questioning look.

Dib was too stunned to speak. No…this was a dream…the shock had done its damage, he was sure of it…

Zim was the first to lunge. Claws outstretched, his speed would've been a match for Dib's had Dib not slammed to door in his face. There was a terrible yowl of pain, and Dib made a beeline for the kitchen as the crunch of splintering wood followed him. He followed Dib into the other room and the two enemies squared off as Dib backed up against the counter he was nearest to and attempted to reach for something to defend himself with.

"Zim…you- you can't be serious! That shock changed you…I saw it! I remember it…You were different!" Dib cried desperately.

Zim cackled, and then stared straight into Dib's eyes, slits dilating with malicious thoughts. "Yes…I put on a good show then, hm? I didn't change…not yet, anyway."

Dib's concerned face grew into a shocked grimace. "You won't get away with this! Gaz will be home soon, and if she sees you beating me up, she'll-"

A knife whistled, circling through the air towards Dib's head, coming from the set of cutting knives Zim had suddenly grabbed. Dib managed to duck just in time to avoid the major part of it, but it hit something above his head with a sickening "THU-ACK!"

Dib blinked harshly, staring wide-eyed at Zim's new array of weaponry. His hand instinctively began to reach up to find out what the knife had hit, but he didn't even have to raise his arm before a black mass fell into his lap.

Dib panicked and jumped up slightly before noticing he felt slightly light-headed. He didn't have to wait long to find out why, as he nervously took a second glance at the thing in his lap.

It was his sythe! Or, at least, the top part of it. The bottom part of it still stuck from his head like a cut tree limb, but…but…

Dib heard Zim cackle again and out of the corner of his eye Dib saw Zim reach for another knife.

Dib screamed like a little girl and shot under the kitchen table just before Zim's knife crushed through the wood where Dib's head had been. Zim retracted his weapon and dropped to the ground, intent on following Dib. Dib whimpered and crawled backwards out from under the table, eyes locked onto Zim's burning holes of hatred. Zim crawled after him as Dib threw himself to his feet and backed up until the wall met his fingers. Panic seized him; he was trapped. He glanced around, searching for an exit as Zim closed in on him. Panting from the effort and eyes begging for some kind of mercy, Dib sank to floor as Zim stood over him, an evil grin caressing his marked face.

"So tell me, Dib-stink…" Zim said soothingly as he dropped into a crouch to Dib's level, clawed hands hanging loosely over his knees, "What do you think it will feel like to be the one on the autopsy table?"

Dib's face quickly turned to a growl, and he flung his fist forward…just as Zim calmly reached up and grabbed it in his own hand. With a horrific yell, Zim grabbed Dib's collar and threw him back up on his feet, pressing him hard up against the wall. The amount of pure animosity in the room made it seem to shudder as the two enemies glared at each other, eye-to-eye.

"It's written in your blood-! This is your fate, Dib-human…It would come back to haunt you eventually, and here it is!" Zim cried, zipper teeth showing and pupils dilating strangely, a new light in them.

"What are you TALKING about?! If you're going to kill me, then at least make sense!" Dib screeched.

Zim calmed down, and then leaned in closer to Dib's face, spider legs coming out with a hiss from his Pak.

"It is your fate to know…'the truth'." Zim whispered, eyes narrowing at the last two words.

"Whaaa?" Dib asked, now thoroughly confused. He didn't have time to get an answer, as Zim spider legs quickly were pointed on either side of his head, puncturing his skin a little. His eyes widened behind his glasses, and the last thing he saw was Zim's grinning face before electricity coursed through him, and he screamed to Zim's evil laughter.

No matter how hard he struggled, kicked, or tried to break free, Zim held him down as something crawled towards his brain from under his skin.

Oh god the pain-!

"Help! Someone! Anyone-!" Dib screamed, as his world began to fade and the electricity began to fuse out.

"No one can save you now…" Zim voice faded into darkness.

"HELP!" Dib screamed, and shot up in bed, covered with sweat. His eyes were wide with panic, bangs drooping in his eyesight.

Wait…This was his room, his bed, his computer beeping at him… Dib's eyes drooped again, narrowing into a questioning look.

"So…was it just a nightmare?" he mumbled. He got an answer from his sister, just down the hall from his room.

"I'll make your life a nightmare if you don't get up soon!" she cried, and Dib felt a spike of hatred emitting at him.

Despite that, however, he suddenly felt really…good. Like he'd just been given a massage or something; all relaxed and happy. He felt…erm…like…

Well, better not think about it now. He sighed, closing his eyes, and ran a hand through his hair.

'_WAITAMINUTE-!_'

His eyes shot back open and his left hand felt for his scythe. In fact, this wasn't his hairdo! He didn't have bangs…or hair on his neck…

He shot up out of bed, grabbing his glasses on his clothes drawer, and flew to the bathroom. Grasping the sink with both hands, he stared wide-eyed at his new reflection.

Black, thick, spiky bangs now hung in front of his face, jutting out before becoming a blockade in his line of vision. However, where his scythe had once been now was a short, sharp bang sticking straight up and parallel to his head.

He stared at in a kind of awe at his new do. Reaching up tentatively, he brushed his hand though his locks, running his hand along the top of his cranium all the way to the back of his neck, where his hairline now ended.

He narrowed his eyes and concentrated. Was this some trick of the light, or could he actually…?

He carefully picked up his glasses, turning away from the mirror, and put them on his head. Everything was now blurry, which was even weirder. He slowly took them off, and everything became clear again. He turned back to the mirror, now fully confused and weirded out. He leaned into the mirror, glaring at his reflection. His eyes looked perfectly normal to him. He turned his head slightly, eyes not moving. There wasn't any blue around his pupils; that meant no contacts snuck into his eyes. He leaned back, standing up straight just as Gaz threw open the door.

"Dib! What'd I say about- HOLY SH-!" she shrieked, and jumped back all the way across the hallway, eyes wide with fright. This wasn't her brother! This…this thing was some kind of demon, even more powerful than her own! Those eyes…! The strange marks pulsing across its face and body, the sign on its shirt…

_Those eyes!_

"Gaz?!" it cried with her brother's voice. "Gaz, what's wrong? What do you see?!"

She shook her head, eyes as big a saucer plates. As it tried to reach out for her, she screamed, "SECURITY!"

There was a screech, and dolls of various sizes and makes shot out from her room. Their eyes glowed an eerie red, claws shining in an evil, sharp way. They shot towards the demon, and grabbed it around the arms and legs, bringing it down to the ground in a ferocious arm lock. It screamed with fright, and struggled to get free.

"Gaz! It's me, Dib! Call them off-!" it cried, and Gaz started to see clearer. Maybe…maybe this thing was her brother…

Her eyes narrowed back into their usual glare, and she growled nervously to the robots, "DNA s-s-scan. Who is th-this?"

One of the doll-robots jumped onto the thing's back and plucked a hair, with a cry of protest from its previous habitat, and ate it. Its eyes turned a sick green, and it repeated: "DNA MATCH FOUND. ONE DIB MEMBRANE, SEVENTEEN YEARS OF AGE."

Gaz shivered, then made a slight of hand and the dolls ran back into her room while her "brother" got up and brushed himself off.

"Yeesh Gaz…I don't look that different, do I?" he asked. She growled as his eyes met her barely visible ones.

"Your eyes…and the new…everything. Since when did you get tattoos? And that new shirt? What did you do last night; get drunk and invite Zim and Keef over?" she grumbled. Dib's eyes widened.

"Wait…my eyes…shirt…pulsing tattoos…" Everything began to fit into place.

"Oh no, DAD'S GUNNA KILL ME!" he screamed, and flung himself down the stairs into the kitchen. The fight last night, everything must be a total…

Organized, regular clutter?

Dib paused in the doorway, panting, while his sister slowly and unsurely followed him. Both of Dib's hands flew to his head, where they covered his eyes and then flexed out to reveal them again.

Everything was perfectly normal. The table was clean, the knives in place…He even pivoted slightly to stare at the door. It was still in its hinges.

"Um…Are you sure you're the same brother of mine from last night?" Gaz asked.

"No…it wasn't a dream…It couldn't have been! It felt so real…" Dib mumbled, and then turned to Gaz. "Gaz…there wasn't a single, itsy-bitsy thing out of place, was there?"

Gaz arced an eyebrow. "No. When I came home, everything was neat and clean and you were in bed, mumbling something about 'Zim attacking'. You were screaming at some point too, but I sent a Security guard to shock you out of it. By the way, have you seen that one…? It was the one with a loose eyeball…You had bettor not have broken it!" she threatened.

Gaz's explanation confirmed the source of the electric shock and the dream, but there were so many mysteries left unsolved…

"Hm. You say I have strange eyes and weird marks, right?" Dib asked, relaxing his hands back to his sides.

Gaz nodded slowly, and Dib ran into the living room and grabbed his camera from the couch, exactly where he had left it last night. He ran to his sister and shoved it into her hands.

"Gaz! Take a picture of me!" he demanded, and she grunted as he backed off and slightly bit his lower lip. There was a whir as Gaz turned it on and pointed it at him, raising it to her eyes.

"I don't see why you can't just go look in the mirror…" she grumbled as the camera clicked.

Dib immediately snatched it back from her with a brief thanks, and rushed up to his room, where he jumped into his computer chair and took out the memory card from his camera and downloaded it to his computer.

Pictures of Zim's house…Gir dumping funky-looking garbage in the backyard…Zim right before the transformation…

Dib shivered slightly at the memory, and then saw a familiar face on one of the thumbnails. Double-clicking it, it took a second to load before everything came crashing down on him.

It was him, alright, but he looked very different, almost scary in a way. Brown zig-zag marks, like Zim's but a different pattern, covered him from head to foot, yellow in some places form the pulsing. His hair was exactly like what he'd seen in the mirror, but a tiny bit ragged from the struggle with Security earlier. His clothes were the same color, but instead of a neutral smiley face on his shirt, there was a black draconic spiral, from which the marks seemed to originate. His eyes, however, were a different story; yellow irises with brown slits for pupils.

Dib sat back in amazement, now knowing why Gaz had freaked. Then, a strange thought came to him that hadn't ever come along before.

"_Damn…I look good!_" his thoughts purred happily.

**…:Earlier that night: The Loose Eye's story:…**

Perhaps it had been wrong to come in this room, this room of curious implements and 'stupidness' as its mistress called it. Loose Eye had never really been one to make judgments, but perhaps, for this occasion, it was okay.

It didn't understand why it had come in here, other than its mission to shut the human monkey up. The male was moaning and rolling in his bed, and his room appeared to be steaming from his sweaty, fervent dream. Whatever it was, it was evidently causing him panic and stress, so a 'good shock aught to do it', as Loose Eye's mistress said before kicking Loose Eye out her door on its mission.

But, it was better not to ask questions. Loose Eye hadn't been built that way, but it did not mean Loose Eye occasionally thought for itself, if only in fragments. Its mistress had taken extra care in their making, just in case she was not available to give commands for her army.

Still, something about this human seemed…off at this time. Loose Eye paused, its long arms dangling at its sides like hanging Slinkys. Cocking its head to one side, its said loose eye beginning to bounce on its spring, it did a very fast Danger Check.

This was…bad. The meter blew the scales, the glass breaking inside Loose Eyes head and the little dial springing out with a "TWANGGG!" Loose Eye, for once in its long life, reconsidered this mission for the sake of its own life, not of its mistress' pleasures.

Upon hearing a rumble from inside her room, however, Loose Eye's previous thoughts were eradicated and it grinned again, going for its previous mission. Whatever the cause, Loose Eye considered this threat to be much less than the threat of anger flaring from its mistress' room.

Both of its long, springy arms jerked like dying snakes, jumping to life as electricity flowed through them. Loose Eye crouched, and sprang up onto Dib's bed, preparing for its devious duty.

The room went deadly quiet. The temperature dropped at least twenty degrees in only a half of a second. Loose Eye paused once more, reconsidering this option.

Something under Loose Eye's feet shifted and writhed like a snake, and it couldn't have been the human's body. Loose Eye's good eye went wide, the other rolling about on its chain.

A clawed hand shot up, pulsing brown and yellow, and grabbed around Loose Eye's throat, two yellow eyes opening in the darkness as a large head shot up to meet with Loose eye's gaze.

When the mouth opened, the sharpened canines glinted as they were revealed in a wide grin. Brown slits dilated as loose Eye's single eye grew wider.

Instead of one voice, many voices came out of the human's mouth, in a series of hisses and growls that would've been taken as demonic in any society.

"Do you know the origins of Ring Around the Muffin Man?" the voices collectively asked.

Normally, one might've laughed at such a stupid and botched-up question. However, coming out of a creature like this was just plain-out creepy.

When Loose Eye didn't respond, the grin grew. For another first in the little robot's life, it felt pure, white-hot fear grow in its stomach. It didn't know what caused this feeling, or eve if it was built to feel this, but it felt fear all right.

"Let's play." A voice whispered, although the human's mouth didn't move. Instead, his eyes sparkled, and everything went dark. There was another couple of moments of the quiet, but if one listened closely, they could hear a quiet munching sound, like aluminum being crushed under titanium teeth.

END CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Ick. Hydroflouric Acid is sh-NASTY. It digs into your skin, and then eats the calcium in your bones, building deposits of the stuff until your blood can't pump through your body anymore…of something like that. You die within only a few hours if it doesn't come out. Calcium gel, when rubbed on the skin, causes the hydrofluoric acid to be tempted to come back out to react with that instead of your bones. It doesn't always work, though. ;.;

And this chapter was THIRTEEN FRIGGIN' PAGES. So of course it's chapter 13.

NUR-HUR-HUR RETARDED ZAGR SCENE FINALLY. Derp.

AND OH NOES IS ZIM REALLY EVIL? But how could he be at the Membrane house when he was with Gaz?! Or does he have some kind of…time-controlling powers? Or are there TWO Zims running around? You're going to have to wait for the answer! D8

Zim and co. are owned by Jhonen Vasquez.

Yeah…that's it.


	14. I Want a New Dib

There's Always a Light in the Darkness

Or, _The Tale of the Logical_

By: The Talking Absol

Chapter Fourteen: I Want a New Dib

It was a nice day, for once. The birds chirped, the squirrels danced amongst the tree branches, and the gophers didn't get rocket boosters and charge at everyone. However, almost every female girl seemed to notice Dib for once, and when they did, they swooned.

Gaz was annoyed by this, and Dib didn't notice until several girls started stalking him on the walk to school. After that, he picked up his chin and tried to look a bit more confident.

"What's their problem?" Gaz mumbled, glancing up at her brother, trying to get used to his new haircut.

"Um…I don't know, but I kinda like it." He said, grinning.

He thought he heard a sigh, and he looked at Gaz, but she was scowling at the ground. He peered all around, but the other girls were too far away and there was no one really close to them. He shook his head, and tried to remember why he had bangs again, although there wasn't a straight answer.

When the siblings arrived at school, the gawking got worse. Even Jessica, all curves and sparkly clothes, turned her head to stare as Dib came in.

"What…the…hell." She gawked.

Dib didn't see Zim anywhere, but the more he thought about it, the less he cared. The paranormal seemed…unimportant now.

'_It's a silly study._' The thought caught him off-guard. Was that…really his way of thinking now?

And yet, he was really looking forward to Physics. He might even switch PE out for Chemistry, since the teacher had begged him to (knowing who his father was).

He absent-mindedly flexed his hand, and heard a "schwick" as his fingers prickled. He took a closer look at his hand, and found that his fingernails had suddenly sprouted another inch and were sharpened at the ends, like claws. His hand seemed to pulse, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Gaz flinch.

"Is it…Am I doing it again?" he asked quietly.

"Yes. And you're lucky no one seems to have noticed." She growled back.

He relaxed his hand, and the claws disappeared. They didn't just retract, they…went away, like fading light. He perked when the bell rang, and headed for his first class, noticing a good number of the girls in school were still following him.

…**:Lunch:…**

Zim had shown up for school that day, but after noticing Dib, he'd jumped and tried his best to avoid him all day. Lunch was no exception; the alien seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Dib was about to sit in his usual spot with Gaz when a cheerleader named Haley flounced up, all grins and giggles.

"Hi, um, like, do you think, like, you could sit with us, um, Dib?" she asked, curly pigtails bouncing like Slinkies.

Dib stared at her for a moment, and was about to answer when Nikki, the head of the drama team, came up and sang out, hands clutching her heart, "Oh Dib of the wild blue yonder, wilst thou come and place thyself by me?"

Dib opened his mouth, but Maria, a member of the Future Leaders club, shoved both girls aside and stated, "Of course he doesn't want to sit with you idiots! He'd rather have an intellectual conversation with us, wouldn't you Dib?" She batted her eyelashes at him.

The other members of each girls' teams came up and began arguing with each other, but Jessica shoved all of them away, saying plainly, "Of course he doesn't want to sit with any of you. He'd rather sit with us."

This made all girls in the lunchroom break out into a full-on cat fight, growls and scratching included. Dib tensed, and turned and fled the room, not stopping or turning back until he'd reached his next class. Panting heavily, he leaned up against the wall and sighed.

'_Looks like you got yourself in an aggro, my blinkered friend!_' a thought said.

Wait.

That was certainly not his.

It also had a British accent.

Dib swallowed heavily, and thought back, '_Okay…what are you?_'

'_Why, we're the very force that runs your world, and suffice to say, we're doing a bodge job, know what I mean?_'

And then, there he was. He didn't exactly appear; it was more like he had always been there and he'd just allowed Dib's mind to see him. At least, Dib assumed it was a "he," because of it voice in his head, for it was just a large, snake-like…thing with four spikes that extended up and back on its head.

And he had a monocle on his right eye.

'_The name's Fwoof, my barmy friend, and I'd fancy it if you'd not soon forget it!_' "Fwoof" said, mouth moving but the words forming in Dib's head.

His memory of the night Tak's ship was jacked was brought up, and Fwoof perked, his spines rising.

'_Oh, yes. There are several of us here, we know. That must have been Lukinai, the dim-'_

'_Okay. First off, what do you mean by "us?"_' Dib thought, trying to sort his thoughts. He hadn't panicked because he was quite used to the paranormal, and freaking out was no longer his thing. Also, it was hard to attempt to figure out what Fwoof was saying half the time, as Dib was not very familiar with British phrases.

'_Cor. I do suppose I must do the full Monty explanation._' Fwoof sighed, rolling his eyes.

'_Do YOU have to? I want to say some things!_' a feminine voice exclaimed in Dib's head.

'_Well, go on hogging the spotlight, will you, Fwoof? Thinking you're all cool because you learned some other god-damn lingo…_' a nasty male voice snarled.

'_Oh, bugger off Burhn, before I box your ears!_' Fwoof looked into empty air, and then turned to another invisible tail. '_Go ahead and chin wag with the boy, Quezu! I'll have a butcher at the mob of barmy fans!_'

He faded out, and a neon-orange tail, no spikes, popped into reality, glancing around before saying, '_Okay, here's the deal- We're supposed to stop you Logicals from taking over the Magical realms. However, somehow Zim got the nastier parts of us, and we think they're siding with him. Or Jake's controlling the lot of them- He does have Lukinai who worked for Jake once…But that's not the point! The point is- we need to make sure Logicals don't hurt Magicals!_'

'_Er…_'

"Quezu" rolled her eyes in a tremendous, over-dramatic gesture. '_Oh, do NOT tell me you don't know what Logicals and Magicals are!_'

'…_no…_'

'_Idiot!_' "Burhn" came in, hissing, brown body nearly blending with the walls in the school. '_Logicals are types of humans that think things through; they want to explain Magic and make things seem…more logical or tedious than they actually are, like making atoms spin and gravity work. More than just an illusion or…or…unexplainable. Typically don't believe in miracles. They want to make people believe that there is a thorough explanation behind everything that goes on in the universe. Magicals are the opposite; they're a lot like your classmates, or they can be like the Warner siblings or Mickey Mouse! They go with the flow of Magic; they just want things to work they way they should and that's that. They can be ignorant, yes, but at least they don't want to kill someone just because they don't believe in something!_'

'_Oh. So, like, thinking…no…knowing HOW Newton's theory works, or knowing WHY e equals mc squared!_' Dib was beginning to get the hang of this.

'_Oh, it's not just Physics and Science, it can be anything! Astrology, Geology, even basic Math or Art! Not all Logicals try to be destructive, they're just curious. It's just that Magic hates his brother so much he employed us to stop his students at all costs…_' Quezu said sympathetically.

'_And look where it's gotten us! Three, maybe four Logicals on the loose, causing all sorts of mayhem, and rumors flying that Jake is looking to get the Dream World-_' Burhn was interrupted by Fwoof, who came back and headbutted him.

'_That's a beastly way to introduce the boy to his world!_' Fwoof snarled, loosing his accent for a few seconds.

'_Jake?_' Dib pondered, and Fwoof sighed, wiping his monocle off with his tail while Burhn stuck his slippery tongue out at him.

'_It's not the Deep Magic's cup of tea, but a long time ago, when Logic was still fresh in the universe, a student came over and invaded the Twilight Zone on his own. The Twilight is basically, in your human terms, the Garden of Eden, except it's not quite where everything started. It's off by about a kilometer, really, but that's not my au fait. It actually became a resting haven for magical creatures, and a place where dreams came true and all that. Anyway, this Jake character, at only eighteen, lit the Twilight Zone up in flames, and destroyed every living creature there, even forcing the mighty Four Forces, or the leaders of that world, into hiding. He then proclaimed himself King and turned the Twilight and the Labyrinth into, essentially, a second Hell.'_

'_Since then, he's been collecting lost souls and torturing them to his pleasure. It's sick, really, especially knowing that the Nightmares-' _Burhn started to say, but Fwoof interrupted him once more.

'_That's enough for now; now we've got to do our current duty!_' Fwoof motioned with his head, and they disappeared.

After the bell rang, Dib asked out loud, in a whisper, "Are you still there?"

He jumped when Fwoof responded in his head, '_'Course! Give us a bell if you're in shambles!'_

With that new set of information in his head, Dib set off for class, his head abuzz with (his own, thank goodness) thoughts.

…**::After School::…**

When the principal found out about the fight in the lunchroom, he had required that all girls attend a three-hour after school meeting on being fair, so luckily Dib was left alone when he and Gaz, who had skipped out, walked home.

At first, he didn't notice they were being followed.

Dib still glanced around himself, getting a feeling, but whenever he looked, no one was there.

"What's your problem?" Gaz asked.

"I just…You don't feel that…?" Dib asked, whipping his head around in either direction.

"Of course. Zim's been following us since school." She said, shrugging.

She stopped, and Dib came to a halt just as Zim, in disguise, quite literally _stepped_ into reality. He looked a little uneasy, but shook it off as he straightened, facing the siblings.

"Hey Gaz." He said, smiling. He turned serious upon looking at Dib. "Hello Dib."

"Okay, explain yourself." Dib demanded, crossing his arms.

"What? I was…researching…um…stuff." Zim chirped, looking away nervously.

"What kind of 'stuff'?" Dib growled, feeling claws pinch his skin.

"Like…this." From out of his Pak, he withdrew some beautiful marigolds, fully bloomed and bright orange. He walked up, holding them out to Gaz.

"Huh?" Gaz mumbled.

"I…uh…thought they were…pretty, and I thought of you when I saw them…" Zim stumbled out.

She took them gently, bringing them close, and just as Zim began to relax, Dib tackled him. The two fell to the ground, Dib holding Zim down by his arms. The alien kicked away, but two different-colored beams shot out from behind Dib and grabbed his legs, pulling him out from under Dib and tossing him through the air. Zim yelped, but his spider legs caught him just before he hit the ground. He glared up at Dib, a mark snaking its way up his cheek.

"I meant this!" Dib cried, pointing to where he knew his own marks were beginning to show.

Zim looked genuinely surprised. "You…You're like me now, too?!"

Dib shot back, "Yeah, I mean, since you came to my house last night! I really don't think that was a dream!"

Zim got down on his own legs, the mechanical ones retracting into his Pak. "I was with Gaz until almost 10. Then I went home. I do not know what you're talking about."

"What do you mean you don't know what you're talking about?! You're the only other one like this, and I sure don't see Dire coming around-"

"Dib, shut up!" Gaz snapped, yanking him back by his backpack. "I really don't think he knows what your crazy mind is thinking about right now. I came home at, like 10 'o five…"

Dib dropped his backpack, running into the middle of the empty street towards Zim again. However, he halted when Zim pulled a new trick.

Like fragments of light from a crystal, eight "tails" shimmered into place behind and all around Zim, flickering and quickly forming individual faces and looks, and even a different number, if any at all, of spikes upon their heads. One of them, a bright red one that Dib recognized from the night Tak's ship was stolen, rose up right above Zim's head, blinking and slowly hissing at Dib.

"I. Don't. Know." Zim said flatly.

The red one above Zim's head growled, once again by thought, '_Hmph. Figures YOU blame the alien for your troubles._'

"Then why did you send Tak's ship to get her?" Dib pointed out, literally pointing at the tail.

'_I don't know what you're-_'

'_You twit, Lukinai! That's total pants; on your bike! Let us have the real gen!_' Fwoof came out, shaping much faster than the other tails.

Zim's other tails shrank back, whispering amongst themselves.

'_F-Fwoof! I didn't know you had been elected to…_' Lukinai started, but shook himself and started again. '_That doesn't matter. Speak English!_'

Fwoof narrowed his eyes, and the accent and lingo disappeared as if he'd never had them. '_Fine. Tell us the truth, before I come over there and strangle it out of you._'

Lukinai looked taken aback, but snorted, finally saying, '_Pf. Fine yourself. I did release Tak's ship, but it was for Zim's need, not any other reason. He wanted to find out the truth of his mission, because his Logical abilities told him something was off._'

"I'm sorry if I scared you with Tak." Zim apologized, but continued, "And I can't help you with what happened to you. I have, however, been suspecting, for a while now…"

_And somewhere not far off, a pair of bright blue eyes narrowed…_

"…That Dire still lives."

END CHAPTER FOURTEEN

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUN!

What a twist! D8 I wonder how many of you saw THAT one coming?

_This Chapter Brought to you by the Letter 5_.

Sorry I've been gone. So many projects…Don't fret, though. I know what's going to happen from here on out. Mostly.

Fwoof is too British to function. XD Go here if you don't know what the hell he's saying: www. effingpot (dot)com /slang. shtml

Invader Zim and related characters and themes © Jhonen Vasquez and Nick

Deep Magic, Theory of Logic and Magic, the Twilight and Zone (no not the one you're thinking of!), Jake, Nightmares, Fwoof, Burhn, Quezu, and Lukinai, and Dire © ME! -gasp for breath-

Warner siblings © Warer Bros.

Mickey Mouse © Disney

Song title (original) © Huey Lewis and the News


	15. Spacealien

There's Always a Light in the Darkness

Chapter 15: Spacealien

By: The Talking Absol

The blast shook Dib off his feet, sending him to the ground. He coughed as dust filled his lungs, and struggled to find Zim within the cloud. Fwoof let a pulse of energy leave his mouth, blowing it back and hopefully hitting their mysterious attacker.

"Zim! Gaz! Where are you?" Dib called, hoping the alien had survived.

'_Oh, totally ace! Just go on shouting and running about, will you? Is it possible for you to be silent?_' Fwoof growled, scanning the area.

Lightning reigned down from seemingly nowhere, striking the ground between Dib's legs. Instead of shrieking, like he would have done only a week ago, he snarled fiercely and withdrew his left hand, swinging it back in a salute-esque manner. A wave of growing energy, thinner than paper, followed the motion, and somewhere in the cloud a squeal of pain was heard.

Dib jumped to his feet, his tails shimmering before disappearing again.

'_Remind me how we got here again…?_' Quezu grumbled.

**...::Earlier::…**

The greatest thing about finals?

Getting out early.

Indeed, the Skool Admin had wanted to keep the kids in all day to keep studying, but The Bureau of Common Sense (who had about as much power as the EPA), had finally managed to convince them that, as long as the kids went straight home, and were watched to make sure they studied, they would be let go at a half-day schedule.

Every single girl in the skool had come up to Dib, asking him to help them study. Strangely, he found himself saying "yes" to more than half of them (even if he didn't mean it). And the others…

He hadn't said "no," but he had asked if they were busy over the summer.

This was becoming much easier for him. Popularity didn't come easily, but it helped if you were suddenly very attractive and mysterious.

So, the first day of finals, he aced both the tests easily, and managed to escape the Go-Home buses with Gaz and Zim, who had captured all of his other "study-buddies." Gaz opted upon going home, and the two boys reluctantly agreed. It turned into a much nicer day than they had planned, as they spent the entire afternoon and night trying to beat each other at various video games.

The funniest part, to both Dib and Gaz, was watching Zim try to _not_ chuck the Wii remote at the screen.

Gaz was howling with pure, uncapped laughter by the time Zim stopped cursing. Dib couldn't physically breathe.

Zim _did_ have fun too though, especially announcing he was the King of Video Games when he beat Dib at Mario Kart. Three times in a row.

Neither of the boys, even when they teamed up, would beat Gaz, however. This, of course, was for obvious reasons, but that didn't stop them from trying.

The only reason they were relaxing was because, the day after Zim announced his suspicion of Dire's condition, Fwoof and Lukinai had, after a second of mind-splitting pain, detached themselves from their two hosts, and set out to find the other alien, saying something about Deep Magic having better tracking abilities than anything else.

They had returned that morning with news that Dire was nowhere to be found. They'd searched every nook and cranny, they said, and found no trace of him being in the city any longer.

'_I guess he heard us and flew the coop._' Lukinai had stated, shrugging as best a tail could.

The second day after finals, Gaz proposed the same idea, but Zim, after a few minutes of talking and a punch to the arm (he'd never try _that_ comment again), convinced Gaz to go the mall with him and Dib. They didn't do much actual shopping, and it wasn't as intriguing as the day before. They all agreed it had been a mistake.

For example- the first time a mall cop spotted them, all three had turned and ran, tripping over each other until they managed to squeeze into bathroom stall together. Not one of them left without a bit of a reminder of this incident; Zim kept finding toilet paper on his boots, Gaz had _something_ stuck to the bottom of hers, and Dib had a wet foot for the rest of the day (a fact Burhn would not stop laughing about).

They decided to leave and go back to what they had done the first day after that.

The third and final (thank goodness!) day, Dib suggested that they go out for a picnic in the park. The day took a different path, however, when just as they were setting up, a group of Drama girls, fresh out of escaping the school too, ran up and dragged Dib off to talk with them for a while. He had grinned and shrugged at Zim and Gaz, who glared, but promised he'd be back soon. In fact, he was only a few hundred feet away. They could still see him, chatting away…

So, there they were, digging through the food, when Zim suddenly stopped midway through his sandwich and perked up, wig rising as his antennae tried to follow a sound. He turned his head to face behind them, staring intently at some trees.

"Whaaaat?" Gaz grumbled, mouth full of potato salad.

"N…nothing, I guess." Zim said, turning back.

"So where's Gir been? Is he still out partying and being…well…himself?" Gaz asked, trying to start a casual conversation. It wasn't like she hated silence, but she did want to lead into something else without raising suspicion…

"Er…yes. I suppose. I don't know. We've both been…busy, I…yeah." he chortled.

"Wow. You just can't think today, can you? And you're supposed to be the Logi-whatever." Gaz smirked at the joke.

"Blame skool."

"Too easy."

"…You have a point."

"So how's Tak doing?" Gaz said, trying to move on to more important things she needed to know.

"Truly, Gaz-human? Asking about _other women_…" Zim let out a barking laugh, continuing almost breathlessly, "I might think you were _jea-lous!_"

Gaz reached across and hit him square in what she hoped was his Squeedly-Spooch, causing him to gasp for air and drop his sandwich, clutching the tender area and moaning.

"Shut up. I was only hoping you'd sent her back or ended her misery."

Zim took in a big breath, letting out in a squeaking voice, "Yes. She's healing fine. I shall send her home soon."

"That's good, because, you know, it's been a while."

Something dangerous flashed across Zim's face, like he was about to snap at her, but his eyes went wide as his antennae perked all the way up, causing his wig to slide off. Gaz followed his gaze, watching the leaves rustle and fall from the trees, but nothing else was going on.

"What are-" she started, but Zim grabbed her and leapt to the side, robotic spider legs flinging themselves out of his Pak to move a further distance. Just as she began to protest, a small, green energy ball flew out of the trees to where they had been sitting not seconds ago, exploding upon impact. Everyone in the park stared for a full few seconds before panicking, running around in circles screaming their heads off. Dib stared up before the dust overtook his vision…

**...::Present Time::…**

'_Quezu! We don't have time for flashbacks!_' Dib's thoughts hissed as he ran forward, covering his mouth and narrowing his eyes to the dust.

He saw a figure upon sparking robotic spider legs, and ran up, shouting, "Zim! Where's my sister?"

A neon-green tail shot out, wrapping itself around Dib's middle and lifting him up into the air. Dib then saw, as the dust cleared- the stained white lab coat, the bright blue eyes, the significantly shorter frame…

"Hello Dib Membrane." Dire spat the word out like a curse.

"Dire," Dib snarled, struggling in the tail's grasp, "Great to see you. Since when were you not dead?"

"Since Zim came back and healed me." Dire said, smirking as the words sunk into Dib.

"W-wait, what? No, Zim wouldn't…" Dib started.

"You're mostly right," Dire's voice ebbed fake sympathy, "Because of the sudden change to his DNA and Personality Data, and the fact you shoved him into an electrical power box, there were, for a while, two Zims. The one who came back and healed me for revenge against his Tallest, the same one who tried to kill or Taint Tak- I don't think he cared either way- and the same one who sent me to Convert you," Dire frowned, continuing, "The other side of his personality, the hidden one until I tore apart his wiring, was the one who sent you flowers, the one who fell for Gaz, and the one that's been your friend. Both unaware of the other's actions, and the transitions between them too smooth to tell when he changed. I'm here to remedy that."

He held up a small chip, and Dib quickly put the pieces together in his head.

"The Logic you put in him ripped his mind in half, and you're hoping that the Logical one will take over once you put that whatever-it-is-"

"Personality stabilizer."

"Yes, _that_ inside him!"

"Oh, you have little faith in my skills. What you forget, Dib, is that I was the third Convert in the Second War fifteen years ago; the first of the mighty Nerak's army! My skills in technology are unmatched!" He grinned wildly, eyes flashing with more than just insanity.

Dib, meanwhile, glanced around Dire, quickly counting the tails in his head. Upon doing so, he wished his curiosity hadn't gotten the better of him.

'_Holy shit! Fourteen tails!_' Dib bit his lower lip.

'_And considering the fact no Logical can hold over fifteen tails…_' Fwoof added nonchalantly.

'_It would have been nice to NOT mention the fact he's THAT powerful and dangerous!_' Burhn hissed, reaching out from behind Dib to bite down on the green tail, which shrieked and dropped Dib, hissing and biting at Burhn like an animal.

'_Wait a minute…_' Quezu said, coming out and staring hard at the tail as Burhn tried to wrap himself around it to keep it still, '_Tha-that's Seruki!_'

'_What the bloody hell are you-_' Fwoof started, coming out to stop another blue tail Dire sent at Dib, but gasped when he finally bit down on the tail, causing it to shriek. Dib felt a spark, like wires connecting, and jumped as Fwoof looked down at the snarling, snake-like creature, '_O-ovono? What happened-?_'

The same thing happened when Burhn tightened his grip on the green one connected to Dire, his eyes widening as some kind of Deep-Magic-connection was made between them, but the green one didn't seem to respond all that well, '_Shit! This is Seruki! He's never like this- Seruki! Seruki, can't you hear us?_' Burhn tried to call to him, but "Seruki," whose eyes held a black tint to them, growled, writhing around in his grasp.

A purple tail came straight for Dib, shrieking in a high-pitched tone. A dark blue tail shot out from behind Dib- his mind instantly labeled the creature as "Shona"- attacking it straight on and bringing it to the ground.

'_Perufa?_' he asked, struggling to keep the purple one down, '_Please, say something! You're not like this at all!_'

All three of Dire's tails shrieked, and a black wave of electricity ran down them, connecting to Dib's own, causing all four of them to scream as words ran though their minds, causing pain. Dib instantly recognized the words from his Physics book; the two-dimensional kinematics formulas. He mentally pulled the tails away, and they physically followed, breaking the connection.

'_I don't know what's going on- Logic's never been able to overcome us before!_' Fwoof stated without his accent, looking worried.

'_Okay, now you've made things personal, buddy!_' Burhn growled, lowering his head, '_Seruki and Ovono were my friends! You're gunna pay!_'

He started to charge forward, but Quezu reached up and stopped him, saying, '_Not now, Burhn! We've got to figure out how to stop that Logic first!_'

"Aww, now you've gone and ruined my little surprise!" Dire cackled, more black electricity running up the tails like nerves in a brain, "Yes, as Logic grows older, there grows a more ancient form of it, and thus, Deep Logic is made, more powerful than Deep Magic. It only clouds your vision for now, but soon it shall take you over."

"I've heard about enough, Dire!" Zim's voice called out from behind an overturned tree, standing up with Gaz, "And I didn't like what I heard."

He jumped over the tree, extending his spider legs to charge Dire, who smirked and disappeared for a second before reappearing right beside Zim, wrapping one wiry hand around Zim's neck, the other pushing a button and opening his Pak. Zim screamed, all eight tails coming out at once to attack Dire, but a thick, spiked, black tail whipped out and wrapped around all of them, dragging them away as Dire pushed the microchip inside Zim's Pak. Zim managed to swipe a hand at Dire's face, drawing green blood, and Gaz and Dib ran forward, Dib reaching up to tug on Dire's legs while Gaz kicked at the robot ones, but it was too late. He howled with laughter as he dropped Zim, Pak closing again and sparking while Zim cried out in pain, clutching his head.

"Bastard." Gaz spat at Dire, running over to Zim's side.

"Careful, Gaz." Dib said, walking up slowly as Zim's cried died down.

The zigzag pattern quickly made its way all over his body, and just as Zim began to stir, Dib leapt over, pulling Gaz aside just as Zim shot up to his feet, swiping at the air where Gaz had just stood.

Dib and Gaz stumbled before finding their feet, staring as Zim stood up fully, eyes and pupils slit like a cat's. He checked himself over, flexing his sharpened claws before staring up at the siblings, grinning widely.

"Hello again."

"I can take you down just like last time, Zim-" Dib put a single foot towards Zim, trying to be threatening.

Zim yawned loudly, waving his hand, causing Dib to be blown to the side by an invisible force.

"Sure, Dib-stink, whatever you say." He walked up to Gaz, who glared up at him, those amber eyes burning, "You would make a beautiful Logical and queen, my dear." He commented, twirling her purple hair between his fingers.

Faster than anything on the planet, she planted a knee between his legs, making him collapse and clutch the bruised area.

"Sorry, I don't date alien assholes." She snapped, taking a step backwards to regain her balance.

He cackled as he stood up, recovering quickly, "I won't make the offer again, Gaz."

"Fuck you."

"I know you want to," He grinned again as her face unconsciously flushed at his comment, "But we must depart. Gir!" He shouted into a small microphone that had just come out from inside his Pak, "Go watch Scary Monkey, and pick us up."

There was a growl, and the communicator responded, "Voice Confirmed as Master's. Retrieving Master."

Zim backed up, waving to Dib and Gaz as a giant robot vaguely shaped like Gir exploded from what was presumably his house, swooping down and collecting both him and Dire in its giant hands.

"See you in a few weeks." Zim began to laugh heartily, and his laugh was the last they heard of him until Gir disappeared back into their neighborhood.

Dib walked up to Gaz, who sighed heavily and began to walk in the direction of their house. Dib jumped slightly, and ran after her.

"Wh-what are you doing?" he demanded, grabbing her arm to stop her.

"What's it look like? She asked, trying to wrench herself out of his grip, "I'm going home to play on my Game Slave."

'Not when Zim's going back to gather the Armada and take over Earth! We've got to stop him, because…because it's our duty to save the Earth!"

She considered it, her eyes darkening again, and then shrugged, trying to pull away.

Fwoof swooped in, staying in front of Gaz and glaring into her eyes.

'_Because he is your friend,_' he sent out to both of them, '_And you cannot stand to see him like this._'

Gaz, for once, looked away from his gaze, focusing her eyes on a smoldering pile of leaves. Dib dropped her arm, walking up to instead put a hand on her shoulder.

"He's right, you know. In spite of all of Zim's faults, before and even now, he's still one of us."

Gaz let out a short breath, turning back up to glare between Fwoof and Dib just as a spaceship launched itself from the direction of Zim's house into space. All three paused and looked up, watching it pass them. Gaz finally broke the silence, continuing the question she'd had seconds ago.

"Okay, but how are we gunna catch him?"

END CHAPTER FIFTEEEN

END ARC TWO

I am incredibly sorry about the delay in updates. My mind is trying to focus on other things, so I'm attempting to stick to a schedule, but it isn't working because my parents keep arguing with me about how much time I spend on the computer, so time is limited now unless they're in better moods.

This is not, I repeat, NOT a dead-fic. I am simply lazy, and my time on the computer is limited, but I will hopefully start work on this again in August. I need a break from forcing myself to write this (and not because I don't want to, it's simply that I want to work on other things first), and time to watch more Zim and hopefully get inspired. Also, I'm going to go back and edit some chapters, because obviously, things in the grand scheme have changed. Like the addition of Nerak, who is now the Queen of the Logicals (and she is ONLY that in this series, and has no involvement with me, who isn't even in this).

I know where this is going now (sort of), but any suggestions or errors you want to point out to me are welcome too. I know this fic isn't perfect, and I need/want someone else to go over it and make sure everything fits (I should probably request a beta…).

I hope I don't kill you all from the amount of plot twists, red herrings (yes, they're there), and cliffhangers. XDXD Because trust me, there's more to come. And I cut out the secondary title because I was sick of it. It didn't fit anymore.

Nothing in this is mine except for the Deep Magic, Dire, all of Logic, and Nerak.

And yes, I know I changed Dire's tail amount. I did a character re-evaluation, and now he's a lot more dangerous and evil, so fourteen tails seems fitting since Jake has fifteen and Nerak can't be contained.

And somehow, the image of Zim chucking a Wii remote at a TV screen was just too funny to keep out of this fic. XD


	16. Goodbye Cruel World

There's Always a Light in the Darkness

Chapter 16: Goodbye Cruel World

_By: The Talking Absol_

'_Dib, look, there's something we have to tell you-_' Fwoof started as Dib and Gaz ran towards their neighborhood.

'_Look, Fwoof, and uh, everybody else in here,_' Dib thought, starting up towards his house, thinking to quickly pack, '_While I do appreciate your help the past few weeks, it's getting really annoying to have to constantly communicate with all of you and the outside world. Don't get me wrong! Powers are cool and stuff, but this is __my__ fight._'

He was yanked back as his foot hit the curb a block from his home, courtesy of Gaz. He gagged and fell backwards at the sudden-_opposing force-_jerk, and landed hard as Gaz dragged him back.

"But what about clothes? And food? I thought it took months to get here from Irk! And what about Dad? What if we get killed?" Dib protested, feeling a headache coming on. They'd come to the conclusion, naturally, Zim's was the only place to go to follow him, because he either had Tak's ship or another ship they could use.

"Warp speed, duh," Gaz tossed him out into the street again, and pushed him in the direction of Zim's house, "Zim probably never used it 'cause he's an idiot. And we'll be fine- Dad probably won't even miss us."

Dib stared at her for a full few seconds before asking, unable to control himself, "Are you sure you aren't the least bit hurt by Zim's betrayal?"

Gaz glared hard at him, and her hands balled up tighter.

"No." And that was it.

Dib grimaced with regret of bringing it up, and began to run again. He glanced down, seeing something bright out of the corner of his eye. He let out a choked gasp- the mark on his shirt was _glowing_. And pulsing, like a heartbeat, only slower.

'_That's what I meant!_' Fwoof snapped, '_We've managed to keep the Logic at bay from your head up until now, but we can't control it much longer! Soon, it will take over your thoughts, crush your heart, and then-_'

"Dib, stop that thing before I hurt you." Gaz snapped.

"Crush my heart? Nobody said _anything_ about that!" Dib exclaimed aloud, panicking too hard to hear anything else.

'_Oh, you didn't know? Logic has to crush your Magical heart before it begins to rebuild a new, Logical one,_' Burhn said, voice coated with venom, '_That's how it spreads. Don't ask me how it works- it just does._'

'_That's how it'll take over my head,_' some distant part of Dib pointed out, '_It'll make new veins, which __will connect to new, Logical bones and tendons and form lactic acid-_'

Pictures filled his head from books he'd never even known existed, and he hissed and clutched his head as the pulsing rattled his entire frame.

"Dib!" Gaz whacked him in the chest with her arm, "Stop freaking me out!"

Anger initially filled him. For a second he wanted to hit back; hit back and spread whatever this was. But what she'd _said _hit him harder than her fists.

"I...I'm freaking you out?" Dib asked slowly, the pulsing and thoughts edging away hurriedly, as if frightened by something.

Even Gaz looked stunned at her choice of words. She huffed, and then turned away, glaring fiercely ahead as she attempted to make herself look nightmarish again.

"No. I just wanted you to stop acting weird, especially when I'm driving."

"Hey!" Dib suddenly came to realization after a minute, "_I'll_ be driving!"

"I'm driving."

"I know that, but it's still-"

She whipped around, the shadows pooling around her and boiling, causing her hair to flow all around her head, and she growled, "I'm. Driving."

"Okay." Dib said in a squeak, shrinking back.

The effect immediately stopped, and they continued on to their nearby destination.

'_Dib, you've got to stop letting those thoughts through. Fight back! If you don't, we won't be able to help you any more!_' Quezu protested.

'_I can do it! Just...just be quiet for a while and let Gaz and I do this!_' Dib felt horrible for thinking it, but he had to concentrate. Even if Gaz wouldn't admit it, she'd need his knowledge of the galaxy, thanks to all the tapes Tak's ship had held.

'_Hmph! So, big, smart son of Megan Membrane thinks he can handle himself, does he? Fine! I'm out!_' Dib felt Burhn go 'pop', and was gone.

'_Don't worry! We'll be here when you need us, Dib._' Quezu said, and was gone too.

There were several other quiet 'pop's (Dib felt himself wonder if he'd had more voices than he'd thought), and Fwoof was left.

'_I don't care what you have to say, you oaf,_' Fwoof said sternly, '_I'm staying. I'll just...keep my commentary to myself, then._' And he fell silent.

'_Jeez, so-rry!_' Dib thought, rolling his eyes, and then thought better of it, quickly adding, '_Sorry. And thanks, for all your info and help._'

When they reached Zim's house, Gaz rang the doorbell, and kicked the Roboparents down just as they opened the door.

"So good to see you, son! Let's eat the dog." RoboDad said, sparking wildly from the floor.

"Aww, how cute! I'll go get my Martha Stewart oven." RoboMom said, grinning wide and rolling away.

Gaz took the garbage entrance, and Dib got into the toilet in the kitchen (albeit reluctantly, even after all the times he had used this entrance to follow Zim into the base), and they were taken down the tubes into the heart of Zim's house.

Once there, Gaz followed Dib (who knew the base by heart) into the small ship locker Zim had under his base, with a lift to the roof for exit. Dib let out a breath of relief when he saw Tak's ship, and mentally thanked himself for thinking ahead and fixing it to be big enough for three.

Gaz started to climb in, but Dib held up a hand and started back into the base.

"What is it now, Dib?" she asked angrily, "We don't exactly have a lot of time!"

"I know, but...What if Tak knows Zim's real plan? We've gotta help her!" He ran back through the corridors, and followed his own directions to the medical room. There, he took a shuddering gasp at what he saw.

Tak was there, but he could barely see that it was Tak any more. There were long gashes on her head, and Dib got a feeling they weren't from Zim, but rather from...ugh. He'd better not think about it. Her antennea had also become ragged and bent all to pieces, and she wouldn't stop trembling, eyes closed and twitching.

'_At least she's still alive._' Dib's optimistic side offered. He started to pick her up, but the booming voice of the base stopped him in his tracks.

"WHO DARES ENTER- oh it's you." The Computer settled a bit, and lowered its electronic voice.

"Look, do you know anything about Zim's plan? And if Tak's going to be okay?" Dib asked, noticing the wires connecting her Pak to the wall.

"Nope. Sorry. He wrote something down, but I think he took all that paper with him and that Dire guy. As for her, yeah, I think so. She's traumatized- Zim wouldn't let me help heal her, and he did something that only made her worse- but with some rest, her Pak will hopefully heal her."

Dib's shoulders slumped, but he straightened again when he realized he still had a job to do. The wires disconnected from Tak, and with a grunt, Dib picked her up (even though she was really light for her frame) and carried her back to the ship, where Gaz was waiting impatiently.

Dib adjusted the rear seat so it became more like a table, and strapped Tak in gently before Gaz backed the ship into the lift, allowing the Computer to take them up to the roof.

"And hey, when you see him," the Computer added as the roof opened up for them to lift off, "Tell Gir hi for me."

"We will!" Dib said, and Gaz took off towards the sky.

After a few seconds of silence, Dib looked back at Tak and then up at Gaz.

"Are you sure you don't want me to drive?" Dib asked, a bit hopeful.

Gaz turned the ship upside-down, simultaneously opening up the front and letting Dib hang by his buckle for a few seconds, hearing him scream in terror, before turning it right-side up and closing the plasmic window.

Frightened out of his mind, Dib clutched his seat with white knuckles, eyes stuck in one position through disheveled glasses.

"Does that solve the problem?" Gaz asked, smirking.

No answer. She took that as a yes.

…**::Later::...**

Exiting the atmosphere was a little rough, and Dib managed to repress the thoughts of _why_ it had happened, but with a push of a button they were now zooming through space and dodging planets like a large-scale game of Asteroids. Speaking of which, astronomers back home would probably be wondering why there was a large hole in the asteroid belt. Oh well.

Dib was alternating between watching the dark space around them and looking back to check on Tak. He couldn't help it- she looked bad, and he was worried both about her and if that's what Zim would do to his _own race_. From the way the tapes on Irken culture had presented it, for an Irken to betray his own kind was the worst crime possible on Irk. They wanted a symbol of unity; of the one soldier becoming and helping the many. To go against that was unthinkable to any Irken, except the Defectives.

Which Zim was.

Suddenly, Gaz poked him, and he woke up out of his thoughts to stare where she was pointing. In front of them loomed a still-distant large, maroon ship with a gigantic Irken insignia on it, and Dib surmised it was the Armada, the most powerful ship in the Irken military. But Gaz was pointing to something much smaller.

"There," she said, her finger on a little purple dot in front of them, "That has to be Zim."

She typed something into the keyboard, and the screen zoomed in, allowing them a clearer picture of who they were behind. Dib and Gaz both immediately recognized the vessel- sure enough, it was the Voot Cruiser, with the same dents and scratches.

"Let's go kick some alien ass!" Gaz spat, and pushed forward on the control stick before Dib could protest. They shot forward even faster, and Dib heard a distinct whine coming from the read of the ship, similar to when a car began to think it didn't want to go any further.

There was a loud 'POP' following this, but the ship only jolted a little. Gaz didn't seem to notice the noises or Dib's terror. Her eyes and focus were on the steadily-approaching ship, and stopping it before it reached the nearby Armada.

Dib began to cry out as they zipped in towards Zim's ship, and closed his eyes to prepare for the impact, wincing. But, nothing came, and he heard Gaz curse. When he opened his eyes, Zim's ship was gone from their view.

"Where'd he-" Dib started, but a tremendous bump from their left side answered the question. Dib and Gaz looked over, and saw Zim grin widely at them, before continuing to try and shove their ship off to the side. His voice came across the intercom in their ship.

"Aw, I was hoping you'd come to see me take over my own race first-hand! I'll even get you front row _seats!_" Zim screamed the last word, and shoved even harder, beginning to push them down into the dark depths of space.

"In your _dreams!_" Gaz screamed back, jerking the control stick back and shoving Zim off, before zipping around and trying to face him head-on. The ship was falling apart from the stress Gaz had put it thorugh, though, and it took a few seconds to both brake and then turn around. By that time, Zim was racing towards them again, full-speed, and Gaz pulled up and then down the control stick, making the ship jerk around before diving down. Zim followed closely, and Gaz had to keep moving the ship around, constantly changing directions to dodge the barrage of missiles Zim began firing. Finally, as she started to pull up again, Dib heard the fateful "KA-puut" death-noise of all vehicles, and the ship suddenly slowed and refused to move any longer.

Gaz cursed and slammed her hand into the control panel, but the ship didn't respond in the least. Zim's ship fly around to face them from the left side, and Dib could clearly see Zim still grin at them with shark teeth.

"Guess nothing can compare to my Voot Cruiser!" Zim said happily, and laughed.

Dib blinked. Had he just seen...Zim's normal eyes there? Or was it just him?

He didn't have time to think about it, though, because Zim slammed the Voot Cruiser full-on into theirs, and screaming, they were sent flying through space.

END CHAPTER 16

I swear the next chapter will be longer. I will really try.

I was examining this last "arc," and realized it's not much of an arc at all. In fact, I hope to have this finished in just a few chapters. I never really planned beyond the takeover of the Armada, since the final showdown will take place there. Oh well! I had fun planning it all out anyway. I hope you guys will have patience with me again, because I will not abandon this if I can help it. I mean to finish it before the year is out. Or next January, on the 4th anniversary of this fic's publication. Whichever comes first.

You guys and gals have been so awesome. I'm so, so sorry for the long absence. I would explain, but mostly it was just I wasn't watching enough Zim. ;) And the fact I wanted to completely revamp this, but I realized that _this_ is the fic you all wanted to read and kept reviewing, bless your hearts. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I will never be able to fully express my gratitude for your patience, except with more Zim-love.

Except, I want to keep the Deep Magic out of it as much as possible now. This is Dib and Zim's fight, not anybody else's.

Zim and all its characters and elements are owned by Jhonen Vasquez/Nickelodeon. Dire, Logic, Magic, and all that bull is mine, though. Song title is from The Wall, Disk One, and therefore owned by Pink Floyd.


End file.
